Four Starboard
2019 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 7
Like a Rolling Stone - It was a different world, it was another life. Perhaps, in a cruelly poetic way, this was the bridge from the stability of a world that had sustained for decades to the chaos of a new world that awaited on the horizon just past the point of visibility. The San Antonio Spurs fought nobly to hang on to that past stability, to the order of a world that for Lonnie Walker IV, the Spurs youngest player, was the only world he had ever known. When Patty Mills aggressively advanced an outlet pass to a streaking Bryn Forbes for a dunk that cut the Denver Nuggets' lead to two points (88-86) with 52.2 seconds remaining in Game 7, having clawed our way back from an abysmal 13 point first quarter performance and a deficit that ballooned to 17 points in the third quarter, the continuation of stability and order was well within our reach. Full stop with one stop for a chance to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals for the 17th time in 21 seasons under Gregg Popovich. Could we get just one stop? After a Nuggets timeout, we received our answer...unfortunately it was not the answer we had been hoping for and Jamal Murray, Denver's super-talented point guard, was more than happy to be the bearer of our bad news. With 36.8 seconds remaining, Murray sank a 14-foot floater to extend the Nuggets' lead back up to four (90-86). Of course, as coldblooded and devastating as Murray's dagger was, all hope was not yet lost. In his first season headlining the post-Kawhi-defection-Spurs, DeMar DeRozan had had no issues putting the team on his back in clutch situations. Nothing was about to change during a First Round Game 7. Only eight seconds later, DeMar got to "his spot" deep in the paint and rose up for a shot to cut the lead to two with enough time left (28 seconds) for us to have the opportunity to play defense without fouling. Sadly, that opportunity never ultimately came to fruition as DeMar's shot was blocked by Torrey Craig, one of Denver's better wing-defenders. Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic recovered Craig's block shot giving possession back to Denver. While the blocked shot was obviously devastating to the Spurs' chances of advancement, once again...all was not yet lost. Down four, the Spurs still had the opportunity to play the "foul game" and given the Nuggets' collective playoff inexperience coupled with the added pressure of an elimination game, it was reasonable to hope that Denver might miss free throws and help keep San Antonio's door open to make up the four point deficit in the final 25 seconds. What happened next, though, was inexplicable. For some reason, the Spurs elected not to foul and allowed Denver to run the shot clock down under five seconds before Murray ultimately shot and missed. It seemed that Coach Pop was calling for the foul from the sidelines but our players on the court seemed to just have a collective mental meltdown by allowing the Nuggets to run the clock down. Even though Murray missed, it was too late by the time DeMar got the rebound given that we were still down four points. There was only one second left when DeRozan got control of the ball and realizing that it was over, he didn't even attempt a desperation shot before time ran out and San Antonio's season was over. On April 27th, 2019, the Denver Nuggets eliminated the San Antonio Spurs in seven games (4-3), winning the decisive game 90-86 at home at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Rudy Gay was the player of the game with 21 points and 8 rebounds off the bench. Without the veteran swingman's contributions throughout the game, the Spurs wouldn't have had the opportunity to be within striking distance to steal the series down the stretch. Spurs teams past regularly came up with the stops necessary to advance in the playoffs. The 2018-19 Spurs didn't and in falling short, this group, despite their grit, finally allowed the bonds of our past to succumb under the weight of an offseason transaction that changed the trajectory of our future. The new world was no longer just past the point of visibility on the horizon, the new world was here.
Fast forward 25 months and a lot has happened. First (but not foremost), this, the Black & Silver post for the 2019 Western Conference First Round, Game 7, is brazenly pushing out the limits of what constitutes a timely game recap. If you are a regular reader of the blog series, it will probably not shock you to know that I'm unapologetically defiant (borderline gleeful) to be pushing those limits. After all, one of our guiding principles here at theLeftAhead is that time is an illusion. Of course, I wouldn't have had to push the limits out this much had an unfortunate incident of playing an uneven number of games during the pandemic resulted in the unlucky math that eliminated the Spurs from competing in the 2019-20 NBA Playoffs in The Bubble in Orlando, FL last fall and also ended San Antonio's record-breaking streak of 22 consecutive playoff appearances. Like I said, a lot has happened in the 25 months since the Spurs 2019 Game 7 defeat at the hands of the Nuggets. A new world indeed. Zoom forward a little bit more into this season and we find a couple of more examples of our beloved Spurs adjusting to the realities of this new era. The season started off on a very positive trajectory and there was hope that last season was just a blip (and not the new normal). There were positive indications that we were in position to establish our return to being a perennial postseason lock through much of the season with the team reaching a season-high mark of five games over .500 and holding the fifth-seed in the standings on Valentine's Day. Then, unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic reared its ugly head. We were never the same after losing five players to health and safety protocols in late February. To make matter worse, having had six games postponed due to protocols also meant that our schedule post-All-Star break was the most brutal in the league playing 40 games in 68 days without one instance of consecutive days off in the second half of the season. More tribulations came as the Spurs decided to buy out LaMarcus Aldridge (one of the last remaining links to the old world Spurs) on March 25th when we couldn't find a suitable trade partner before the deadline. I was happy to see LA sign with the Nets so he could have a chance to compete again for a title but then really bummed when he was abruptly forced to retire on April 15th due to a reoccurrence of his heart condition. (I enjoyed watching you go to work on the block in SA for six great years, LA. Amazing career. Health is more important than basketball so I wish you a long, healthy retirement.) As if we had not already endured enough adversity, we lost Derrick White to a season-ending ankle sprain at the end of April. All of this adversity resulted in the Spurs going from five games over .500 to six games below .500 and ending the season as the 10th seed entering the newly-created NBA Playoff Play-In Tournament. Tonight, we face a familiar division foe in the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum. The Grizzlies hold the 9th seed in the play-in tournament so they get home court advantage for tonight's game. If we win tonight, we will get to play the loser of tonight's game between the 8th seed Golden State Warriors and the 7th seed Defending Champion Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Win that game and we earn the 8th seed and get to face the Utah Jazz in the First Round of the playoffs. Quite a task in front of us but the good new is that there is no expectation for us two win two games in a row to "make the playoffs" so we might as well play loose and see what happens. In the end, we are officially in this new world of playing the underdog rather than being the perennial powerhouse and it's kind of exciting to be in this new position. There are advantages to our new world. Tonight is going to be a lot of fun. Nothing exemplifies the transition into a new era of Spurs basketball more than an event that took place this past Saturday (May 15th). If you're a reader of this blog and a Spurs plan, the aforementioned event need not be named (but I will share a video from it below). All I need to say is thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? Tim Duncan. And on that note, time to start preparing for the game tonight. Even as an underdog, we still have the winningest coach in NBA history in our corner (regular season and playoffs combined) so I like our chances to play loose and enjoy the "lack of expectations" and maybe get hot and shake up the 2021 Western Conference Playoff race. If we are successful in sneaking our way into a First Round series with the Utah Jazz, all I can say to the fans of the teams ahead of us who may feel that their squads were more deserving is sorry, not sorry.
B&S 20/20: Ecstasy at a Bachelor Party
1999 NBA Finals, Game 5
We Are the Champions - June 24th, 1999. I'd been dreaming about this night, this game, this moment for a little over nine years. To be precise, I'd been dreaming about it ever since renewing my love for the game of basketball after returning to Texas from England as a eleven-year-old in January 1990. Let me explain. While living in England in 1989 (because my dad - a college professor - was teaching abroad), I had naturally gravitated away from basketball - my first love - to soccer - my other sport - because well, you know, "when in Rome." In fact, I was so into soccer after moving back home to Texas, that when youth league basketball tryouts started a few weeks after we got back, I had no interest in trying out because I wanted to focus on soccer. My dad (who doubled as my soccer coach) had to convince me to return to my first love and tryout for basketball. I did, had a fantastic 5th grade season in my youth league, and once restored to its original place in my heart, basketball has been my unwavering favorite sport ever since. During the very same season that I was rekindling my love affair with basketball playing in my youth league in Georgetown - just north of Austin, David Robinson was playing his rookie season for the Spurs 120 miles south of me in San Antonio. Full disclosure, during the 1980s as a young tike, I was a fan of Larry Bird and Boston during the period of time that all basketball-loving Americans had to choose sides between Bird's Celtics and Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers. But after returning to Texas and basketball from England and soccer, I fell hard for this electrifying rookie nicknamed the Admiral and the team in closest proximity to my home and since the first time I ever witnessed Robinson block a shot on one end and then sprint down the court like a gazelle past his defender to receive and hammer home a physics-defying alley oop dunk, I have been the biggest die-hard San Antonio Spurs fan on planet Earth. (Being the biggest Spurs fan in the world is a title I'm proud to have held with distinction since 1990 and for those of you who are skeptical and think that your own Spurs fandom might rival or exceed mine you are welcome to look here to verify that you are in fact mistaken and that my claim to the title is more than secure, it's a verifiable fact.). So yeah, after eight well-chronicled and brutally painful Robinson-led Spurs defeats in the Western Conference playoffs (as well as the infamous 1996-97 lottery year that landed us Tim Duncan), June 24th, 1999 was a surreal occurrence, a point in time that I'd been dreaming about daily since January 1990.
There was just one small problem. June 24th, 1999 also just so happened to be the night of my older brother's bachelor party and - as the universe we exist in is never short on irony - I was the best man. How could this be? How could an event I had been dreaming about for almost a decade be taking place on the same night as one of those rare social obligations where there is absolutely no wiggle room for giving anything less than your undivided attention? Yes, the bachelor party was taking place at a gentlemen's establishment and yes, the gentlemen's establishment was going to be showing the television broadcast of the game on their TVs but this simply further complicated my predicament. Casually following along to the game while staying fully engaged in the debauchery...I mean...festivities that I was presiding over in my role as best man was not an option for me. After all, I'm the biggest Spurs fan in the world (remember?) and my team is playing in the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden up three games to one with a chance to win a championship. Following along casually was not an option. Any diehard sports fan understands this. In a game of this magnitude being played by a team that you love, the ONLY option is to give that game your undivided attention. Keep in mind, this life-altering game was taking place in 1999 not 2019 - there was no such thing as DVRs or watching sporting events "on demand" back then. Suffice it to say, I was in a pretty tough spot. You might be wondering, "Why didn't you plan to record the game on a VCR (hey kids, VCR stands for video cassette recorder...it was a thing back then) and ignore the game at the gentlemen's establishment so that you could watch the tape after and give it your undivided attention?" Well, heading into the bachelor party that was certainly my plan but as you can probably imagine, things did not go according to plan. More on that later. For now since this is a 20th anniversary retrospective post, after all, and since I did watch the game in it's entirety later that night after concluding my duties as best man and have since watched the game in its entirety at least a dozen times over the years on VCR, followed by DVD, and most recently, digitally on YouTube, let's turn our attention to the events as they unfolded in Madison Square Garden - 1700 miles away from where I was simultaneously hosting my brother's bachelor party in Austin - on this date twenty years ago.
The scene was set. The Knick home crowd at Madison Square Garden was going crazy. Each time I've watched the game, I've focused on watching the facial expression of David Robinson and Tim Duncan as they were taking the court for the opening tip. Both displayed a frenetic nervous-excited energy in their expression but balanced that with a calm, confidence deep in their eyes. Jump ball, Game 5, Spurs won the tip and history was set in motion. Both teams traded two empty possessions each before Sean Elliott opened the scoring with two made free throws. Ironically, these two free throws were the only points Sean Elliott scored the entire night. After, two more empty possessions (one each way), Allan Houston tied the game on a floating fader. From there, the Knicks got out to a 6-4 lead but also racked up a bunch of quick, cheap fouls culminating in David Robinson getting the benefit of the doubt on a Charlie Ward block-charge call to earn a dunk and three point play which gave the Spurs a 7-6 lead five minutes in. With such a low score almost halfway through the first period, it was clear that both teams came out a little tight. Shooting was clearly an issue early. The Spurs started 2-11 from the field which, despite our opportunities, allowed New York to swing back into the lead at 9-7 with Latrell Spreewell making 3-4 on foul shots after the Robinson three-point play. Both teams started to loosen up a little and find a rhythm at that point but the Knicks increased their advantage to 15-11 on a 6-4 run. New York got two Larry Johnson post scores and a Kurt Thomas jumper during this stretch but the good news for the Spurs was that Tim Duncan countered with two midrange shots (one a patented banker). Down four, Gregg Popovich called timeout with 3:13 left in the 1st. The Spurs sputtered momentarily coming out of the timeout but after going down six, Jaren Jackson followed two Tim Duncan free throws with a huge 3-pointer to cut the lead to one with 46 seconds left in the first, 21-20. Unfortunately, a Charlie Ward lay-up closed out the 1st quarter scoring giving the Knicks a 23-20 lead after one.
Two minutes into the second quarter, it was clear that second-year phenom Tim Duncan was ready to put the team on his back in order to keep the Spurs within striking distance in the most hostile of hostile environments. Timmy's stat line was up to 10 points and five rebounds a mere 14 minutes into the game. While Duncan's dominant play accomplished the goal of offsetting a deadly New York run, the Knicks were still able to methodically increase their lead to eight, 30-22, four minutes and 30 seconds into the 2nd quarter by cobbling together a 7-0 run. The Spurs punched right back going on an 8-4 run of our own (Timmy four points, Robinson two points, and Mario Ellie two free throws) to cut the New York lead to 34-30 with 3:47 left in second. The momentum stayed with San Antonio the rest of the half as the team started showing signs of the dominance that had propelled us to a 14-2 playoff record. We closed out the half on a emphatic 10-4 run that included a Tim Duncan lay-up, an Avery Johnson jumper, a David jump hook and free throw, and finally Jaren Jackson's huge second three pointer of the half which gave the Spurs their first lead since the first quarter 40-38 heading into the locker room.
The "Remember the Alamo" Twin Tower-led Spurs ratcheted up the defense to start the second half. At the beginning of the third quarter we put together a defensive spurt that included two steals, a Duncan-Robinson block of Latrell Spreewell at the rim, and another Robinson contest at the rim that led to a transition lay-up for Jaren Jackson to increase the lead to 42-38 two minutes into the third. The excitement back home in Texas started building after the Spurs got another stop that led to Jaren Jackson draining his third three of the game. All of the sudden San Antonio had 45-38 lead thanks in large part to Jaren Jackson's 11 huge points. It didn't stop there. After Mario Ellie got fouled on a transition lay up and made two free throws, all told, the Spurs had enjoyed a 25-8 run to take a nine point lead. As expected, the Knicks were not going to allow their season to slip away without a fight. New York went on a quick 5-0 run to cut the Spurs lead to four and had the ball with momentum in a pivotal moment when Latrell Spreewell swung the rock cross court to Allan Houston for an open three (which he drained) but unfortunately for the Knicks, Houston stepped out of bounds before his shot. This was a lucky break for the Spurs in a tight game and a reminder that basketball is a game of inches, if not millimeters. Despite the setback, the Knicks kept coming at us. After the Spurs got two empty trips to the Knicks one, Spreewell elevated for a massive dunk over Jaren Jackson and got fouled. He drained the free throw to cut the lead to one, 47-46 with five minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Knicks were now on an 8-0 run and Madison Square Garden was going bananas. It should be noted that Spurs point guard Avery Johnson committed his fifth turnover of the game to setup the Spreewell dunk. The floodgates continued as the Spurs missed and then Spreewell hit a baseline jumper to give the Knicks back the lead. The New York lead was now 10-0. Pandemonium in the Garden.Lucky for us, we had a counter up our sleeves in the form of a two-time champion starting shooting guard (Houston Rockets, 1994 & 1995) who was clearly unfazed by the moment having been there so many times before. Mario Ellie displayed some of his Clutch City swagger on the ensuing possession, draining a three to immediately swing the lead back to the Spurs. While Ellie's dagger temporarily silenced the crowd, the Knicks came right back with another pure Spreewell jumper. The "is the moment too big for Avery Johnson?" question reared its ugly head once again as Avery committed his 6th turnover on the next possession and Charlie Ward turned it into a transition lay-up to regain the lead. Knicks were back up two, 52-50 with three minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter. At this point, the game was ground to a sudden, unexpected halt due to technical difficulties. The issue was the Spurs’ basket’s shot clock stopped working. After several minutes of officials huddling, the referee's solution was to put a shot clock on the baseline of the Spurs side since, while on offense, the Spurs weren't going to be able to look up over the basket to check the clock. But since NBA players are trained to look for the shot clock over the basket, the decision by the referees put the Spurs at a huge disadvantage since our players would have to now unnaturally look on the baseline for it instead. Coach Pop asked the refs to also turn the shot clock over the Knick's basket off to make it fair and eliminate the possibility that the referees were giving New York a competitive advantage.
After further delay, Popovich lost a ridiculous decision by the refs who ultimately ruled to allow the Knicks to continue to use their over the basket shot clock while the Spurs were being forced to use the back up shot clock on the baseline floor. After all of the negotiation and delay, the Spurs had an empty trip before Allan Houston canned a jumper and increased the Knick's lead to four, 54-50. Unfazed, Tim Duncan came right back by drawing a foul and then draining a turn around bank shot. He also made the free throw to complete a three-point play. A mono y mono theme had begun to emerge as Spreewell broke the Spurs off with another baseline jumper on the Knick's next possession. Down three, a still unfazed Tim Duncan just put his hard hat on and scored the next four points with another patented angle bank shot and then two free throws giving the Spurs the lead back by one. Sprewell, clearly the Knicks go-to player at this point in the game, also showed no signs of slowing down. He hit another 10-foot fade away jumper. San Antonio responded and worked it back to a one point lead with Malik Rose and Timmy both splitting a pair of free throws each to close the third quarter. After three, the Spurs were clinging to a 59-58 lead.The referees finally evened the playing field for the fourth quarter by turning off the Knick’s basket clock and having both teams use a shot clock on the baseline floor. After the teams traded empty possessions to start the fourth, Timmy hit a world class ridiculous fading bank shot jumper to open fourth quarter scoring. Not ready to let the Knick’s season end, Spreewell came right back with quick 5-0 run on a lay-up and then a three-point play (getting fouled on a jumper and then making the free throw) that gave New York the lead back by two. At this point, there's no other way to put it: Tim Duncan and Latrell Spreewell were officially dueling with 26 points each. On cue, Timmy spun in an "anything you can do, I can do better" baseline jump hook to re-tie the game at 63 a piece. After watching the Spurs' power forward regain the upper hand in the Spreewell duel, 28-26, the New York Knickerbockers called timeout.NBC, the network that had the broadcast rights to the NBA Finals in the late 1990s, came back from this particular commercial break to what would later, for people re-watching the telecast, prove to be and eery visual. Obviously, the game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York and just as obviously, the Spurs featured a pair of seven foot all-stars nicknamed the Twin Towers. Those two things being obvious, it was a no brainer that at some point during the broadcast, NBC would come back from commercial with an areal shot of the actual Twin Towers standing tall above the Manhattan sky line. Perfectly sensible at the time, but in retrospect, this shot has proven to be quite solemn and a little spooky knowing this was a mere 15 months before 9/11. I just wanted to acknowledge that and the victims before moving ahead with my recap of the game.
Heading into the timeout, if you remember, Tim Duncan had a 28-26 lead in his personal duel with Latrell Spreewell. Well, on the ensuing possession after the timeout, Spreewell said "not so fast," when he canned a three pointer to take the scoring lead right back from Duncan, 29-28, and, more importantly giving his Knicks the overall lead back, 66-63. If you haven't caught on to our mini-theme, I guess it will be a spoiler to tell you that on the next possession, Timmy worked the Knick’s in the post swinging back the lead in the duel, 30-29, and cutting the Spurs' overall deficit back to a single point. What happened next? You guessed it. Sprewell came right back with a turn around jumper. 31-30 in the duel, 68-65 Knicks on the score board. Bob Costas and Doug Collins, NBC's broadcasters for the game, shrewdly invoked the duel between Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkens in th 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Given the back and fourth between Duncan and Spreewell, this was a nice comparison, the major difference being, however, Duncan and Spreewell weren't matched up regularly guarding each other as Bird and Wilkens were in 1988. So, sure, was the comparison less than perfect? Yes, but to witness two players carrying their teams while going mono y mono in Game Five of the NBA Finals was, nonetheless, an incredible sight to behold.
On the next possession, the mono y mono duel was momentarily tempered when one of the other eight players on the court took it upon himself to forge the audacity to attempt a shot. That player was Spurs point guard, Avery Johnson. He connected on a lay up putting San Antonio back within one. After the Knicks advanced back to their end, David Robinson stole the ball and got to the line, making the first of two and tying the game at 68. The Admiral missed the second and Sean Elliott got the offensive rebound but the Spurs small forward missed the put back attempt and the Knicks regained possession. Back down the court, the Spurs were hit with a second illegal defense (and a technical foul) but Houston missed the free throw. After inbounding again after the miss at the line, Sprewell passed out of a double team and found a cutting Camby for a bucket and an "and 1." Knicks had regained the lead by three.
The two teams then traded empty possessions triggering a timeout. After the break, David Robinson got fouled rebounding a Jaren Jackson miss. He made both and once again cut the Spurs' deficit to one point. Back down the court after Robinson's free throws, Marcus Camby once again dunked, this time on a set up from Larry Johnson. The Admiral came right back with the and 1 but missed the free throw. Still a one point game, 73-72 Knicks. Some great defense by Mario Ellie on Sprewell during the next possession forced him to pass out to a desperation Larry Johnson three that missed. On the other end, Ellie couldn't capitalize on his defensive effort, missing a fade-away jumper. Spreewell marched right back down, rose up and canned another jumper over Elliott. 75-72 Knicks. (33-30 Spree over Timmy in the personal duel.) On the next possession, Mario Ellie was ready to shoot and redeem himself for the poor shot selection on last time down. Out of the double of Timmy, Clutch City came through again as Mario Ellie drained the straightaway three. Tie ball game! The Texas night electric in anticipation.Back on the other end of the court, Timmy got cross matched on Spree (the mono y mono match up we wanted) but unfortunately Timmy fouled. Spreewell made both increasing his advantage in the one-on-one dual to 35-30. More importantly, his two free throws put the Knicks back on top on the scoreboard by 2. After the next offensive possession sputtered, Timmy attempted a desperation 3 that was way off but luckily the Spurs secured the offensive rebound and worked it back to Timmy in the post where he is fouled by Larry Johnson. Timmy made one of two, cutting the dual deficit back down to four (35-31) and the team deficit on the scoreboard back down to one.The next possession proved NBC's earlier cutaway to the Twin Towers clairvoyant in that Timmy and Big Dave combine to make the first in a series of clutch defensive plays. Robinson and Duncan blocked Sprewell at the rim causing the ball to get pinned for a jump ball. NY won the tap and the Knick’s called timeout with 2:05 remaining and New York clinging to a one point lead. After the break, Duncan once again found himself cross- matched on his mono y mono rival Latrell but this time Timmy forced Spreewell to pass out to Charlie Ward for a desperation three that didn’t hit the rim. The second year Spurs superstar once again demonstrated his all world defensive talent to force a shot clock violation and also prompting one of the most beautiful phrases in the English language...Spurs ball!Unfortunately the good guys were unable to capitalize on the ending critical possession as Robinson missed a jump hook. The Knicks rebounded the miss with 1:26 remaining. If this game, this first-ever Championship was going to be won, it was going to be won at the defensive end of the court. New York orchestrated a clever play to get Avery pinned by their hot hadn't, Sprewell in the post. Timmy doubled to force Sprewell to pass out for a wide open Larry Johnson three. Fortunately, though, Grandmama missed and Ellie rebounded to give San Antonio another chance to take the lead.As any credentialed Spurs fan knows, what came next is not only history but probably the most iconic Spurs moment for all-time: Timmy, doubled in the post, passed out to Sean Elliott. Sean pump faked and drove. Avery Johnson’s man, Chris Childs had moved out to guard Sean on the switch out of the double team so Timmy screened to hold off both Larry Johnson and Spreewell. Sean Elliott hits Avery in the corner and Avery rose up confidently to release a baseline jumper. Spoiler alert: the Little General, the point guard Damon Stoudamire had infamously declared would never lead a team to an NBA Championship, drained the biggest shot in franchise history. Spurs lead! Spurs lead! 78-77. All of the eyes of Texas are emphatically fixated on Madison Square Garden.
The Spurs were still exactly 47 seconds away from heaven at this point and the victory was far from secured. After a timeout, Sprewell, still leading the mono y mono duel with Timmy 35-31 decided to go into full hero ball mode but missed a fade-away jumper over Elliott. Avery skied in for the rebound putting us one possession closer to euphoria with 27 seconds left. SPURS BALL!!!
Needing to both nurse the clock and get a quality shot to extend the lead and provide us with some breathing room, we worked the ball into David. He elevated and missed badly but he missed so badly that the ball didn’t hit the rim. Somehow Robinson got his own rebound. With the shot clock ticking down, Big Dave fired the ball back out to Elliott who swung it over to Avery. Johnson had no choice but to chunk up a desperation 28 footer to beat the shot clock. The Knicks rebounded the miss and called timeout. While to objective of padding the lead had failed miserably, the objective of milking the clock had been accomplished. The Knicks had only 2.1 seconds left to score and send the series to Game 6. If they failed, Madison Square Garden was about to be generously hosting a party for some out-of -town guests.I wonder who would be getting the ball? Charlie Ward, the Heisman winning college football quarterback at Florida State, was chosen to inbound just passed midcoast on the New York side. The accomplished Quarterback fired a go route pass to Sprewell streaking towards the basket. Sprewell caught the ball in stride, pump faked and then realized the he was under the basket with Sean on him. He spun out baseline to the other side of the rim only to be met by the four outstretched arms of the Twin Towers of Duncan and Robinson. The intimidating defensive tandem had one more shot to intimidate. Latrell Spreewell rose up and shot a floater over the tree of arm but wasn't able to get enough on the shot to get it over them and on a trajectory to fall back to earth over the basket. Air ball. IT'S ALL OVER! SPURS WIN! SPURS WIN! SPRUS WIN THEIR FIRST EVER NBA CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!
Back in Austin at the gentlemen's establishment, performing my duties as Best Man at my brother's bachelor party had inevitably taken a back seat on my priority list somewhere around the two minute mark in the fourth quarter. My Uncle Bob, who is also a huge Spurs fan and had taken me to my first ever Spurs game against Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in the late 80's prior to my family's move to London, and I had gravitated to the bar area at the gentlemen's establishment to watch our team try to seal its first championship on the television screen overlooking the bar--the foolish notion of thinking I could avoid the score in order to watch my VHS recording of the game in its entirety at home later that night scrapped as soon as I accidentally discovered we were SO CLOSE to REALIZING THIS DREAM down the stretch. I remember us standing there at the bar completely locked in and hanging on every possession with destiny almost within our grasp. When Avery Johnson hit the go-ahead baseline jumper, Uncle Bob and I exploded in excitement and celebration causing such a ruckus that more of our party joined us at the bar to watch the final minute. As you can imagine, when Latrell Spreewell's final shot went up high in the air to avoid the four extended massive arms of the Twin Towers it felt like an eternity before it dropped short and pandemonium ensued, Uncle Bob and I hugging and celebrating with others from my brother's bachelor party. It felt unreal. It felt amazing. THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS WERE WORLD CHAMPIONS. I don't remember much about the rest of the bachelor party. Most of the details from my brother's wedding the next day are pretty fuzzy 20 years later. But the moment my favorite team won its first ever NBA title is constantly with me. In this regard, a moment of pure joy makes me believe that time is merely an allusion. The moment the San Antonio Spurs won the 1999 NBA Championship was then, is now, and will always be.
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B&S 20/20: Twin Tower Tourists
1999 NBA Finals, Game 4
House of the Rising Sun - It must've been a funny feeling for the players on our Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs to walk off of the Madison Square Garden basketball court in New York City on the short end of the score board after Game 3 of the 1999 NBA Finals. After all, the 89-81 loss to the New York Knicks was the first defeat in our past thirteen playoff contests. So, in other words, winning was such a regular occurrence during our 1999 NBA playoff run, it must've been a strange sensation when the (at that time) NBA record-tying 12-game playoff winning streak came to an end. Having had so much recent success, a loss was not only overdue, it was probably also a bit of a refreshing funny, strange sensation. The loss provided a rare opportunity for the team to regroup, refocus and use some much-needed adversity to come back together as one with a unified focus for completing the mission. While on the one hand, one loss after 12 straight victories might not seem like a very big deal, on the other hand, this particular loss gave the Knicks life in their own pursuit of winning a championship. At 2-1 now, the loss brought New York within one game of tying the series with the next two games still being played in their building. Regardless of the 12-game winning steak, the Spurs were in a dog fight still to win our first championship and any kind of lapse in focus could result in us returning to San Antonio down 3-2 and on the brink of elimination. The Game 3 loss, both a curse and a gift, had given New York new life but may also have been the wake up call the Spurs needed in order to summon the focus to finish the job.
Back in MSG a mere 48-hours after the defeat, the focus was evident on the faces of the Spurs' starters as they took the court after opening introductions. After the tip, David Robinson set the tone with some early aggressive blocks. The Admiral's efforts on the defense combined with an overwhelming combined effort with Tim Duncan on the boards allowed the Spurs to get out to an early 15-8 start. It was also evident from early on that the Knicks also came to play. Sparked by an uncharacteristic 10 first quarter points by point guard Charlie Ward, New York responded to the Spurs early push and pushed back to take a 29-27 lead after one.Heading into the second, the Knick's run swelled to 10-2 before Avery Johnson hit a pair of runners to tie the game back up with nine minutes left in the second quarter. Then, after getting a stop, veteran journeyman Jerome Kersey hit a corner jumper to give the Spurs the lead back 33-31. The teams traded baskets for a few possessions until Sean Elliott got a kind bounce on a three point attempt to put the Spurs back up by three at 38-35. Tim played well down the stretch of the second quarter and his 14 first half points helped to keep the Knicks at bay in order to take a 50-46 lead into the locker room at halftime.
I don't know what Gregg Popovich said to the team at halftime, but whatever it was, it ramped the focus up to an unprecedented level as the teams retook the court for the third quarter. How do I know the Spurs' focus was at an unprecedented level? We started the quarter in utterly dominating fashion, hammering the Knicks with a 9-0 run to start the second half. Latrell Spreewell's 10 points in the third quarter kept the Knicks within striking distance but continuing his strong play as the Spurs' floor general, Avery Johnson was up to 14 points of his own for the game after three quarters. Since Duncan and Robinson were continuing to dominate the paint, San Antonio was able to add five extra points to their margin having increased the lead to 72-63 after three.
David Robinson came up huge early in the fourth when his running mate, Tim Duncan, struggled with back to back turnovers early in the frame. The Admiral made some timely buckets and free throws and continued dominating the paint with blocked shots and rebounds. Despite Robinson's brilliance, the gritty Knicks continued to hang around. Game 4 was becoming another "who wants it more" competition of wills and it was reassuring that Big Dave's relentlessness was outshining anything the other side could muster. In one critical play with the Spurs up six points midway through the final frame, Robinson forced Larry Johnson into a tough, air ball fade away. Tim Duncan snatched the rebound and fired a bullet of an outlet to a streaking Mario Ellie for a break away dunk. It was Robinson's effort that made the play possible and was appearing to be winning out in the contest of wills. Latrell Spreewell and Allan Houston, however, had a "not so fast" response. Spreewell made an incredible "force of will" tip in over Duncan and Robinson and then Houston added a patented turn around jumper on the next possession. Throw in a Charlie Ward free throw and the Knicks had cut the lead to 81-80 with five and a half minutes to play.
The Twin Towers absorbed the body blow and responded with back to back buckets of their own (Robinson first, then Duncan). Mario Ellie tacked on a free throw and the Spurs' lead was back up to six. The back and forth continued as Marcus Camby made a three point play and Larry Johnson followed with a free throw to cut the lead back to two at 86-84. The momentum would swing back to the Spurs yet again but this time, we wouldn't relinquish it. The suffocating San Antonio defense (anchored by the Twin Towers) dominated down the stretch as the Spurs held the Knicks scoreless for several straight possessions. On the other end of the court, Elliott, Robinson, Johnson and Duncan all participated in a parade to the free throw line. When the dust settled, the Spurs had made 8-10 (4 from Elliott, 2 from Duncan, 2 from Robinson, 0-2 from Avery) and extended the lead to 94-84 with under a minute to play. Marcus Camby provided a "too little too late" 4-0 run with a quick couple of buckets to bring New York back within six at 94-88 with 17 seconds left. Mario Ellie officially sealed the victory with two free throws before Camby made the game's final point on a free throw of his own when the game was out of reach. All told, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the New York Knicks 96-89 to take a 3-1 lead and inch within one victory of our first-ever NBA Championship.
The player of the game deserved to be split between two players. Here is their combined stat line: 42 points, 35 rebounds, 7 blocks. Can you guess which members of the Twin Towers I'm referencing? Exactly - David Robinson and Tim Duncan were incredible. 35 rebounds, in particular, by two players is astonishingly dominant. Since the rules of our blog series are such that I have to choose a singular player of the game, let me first single out Big Dave for individual recognition. Robinson had 14 points, 17 rebounds, and four blocks. In case you don't feel like doing the quick math, that means that Tim Duncan had 28 points, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks and oh, by the way...also three assists in Game 4 of the NBA Finals as a freaking sophomore NBA player. Yeah, I think even D-Rob would agree, Tim Duncan is the player of the game. The first player since Magic Johnson to perform at basketball's biggest stage at such a high level at such a young age, the recent Wake Forrest graduate had led the San Antonio Spurs to within one victory of their first-ever NBA Championship. Along with the 3-1 series lead came an opportunity to close out inside basketball's most storied arena - Madison Square Garden two nights later. 48 hours to glory? Or 48 hours to just another Friday night in Manhattan? Stay tuned and...
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B&S 20/20: When the Garden Was Eden
1999 NBA Finals, Game 3
Welcome to New York City - Welcome to the Empire State. Home of the World Trade. Birthplace of Michael Jordan. Home of Biggie Smalls.. How fitting a setting. The San Antonio Spurs first NBA Finals road game in franchise history was scheduled to be played in the Mecca, Madison Square Garden, the most famous and arguably most historic basketball arena on the planet. The New York Knicks, our opponents faced a do-or-die must-win scenario in Game 3 on their home floor having dropped both games to the Spurs in San Antonio and trailing the Finals 0-2. On June 21st 1999, Knicks fans packed the storied arena in hopes of rekindling the magic of the summer when the city cheered on Walt Frasier, Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, Dave DuBusschere, and Phil Jackson to the 1973 NBA Championship. You know, the summer When the Garden Was Eden.
Channeling some of their storied ghosts, New York did the first day of summer justice by coming out blazing hot to take an early 20-10 lead. On this Monday evening that doubled as the Summer Solstice, the Knicks would've been primed to boat race San Antonio out of historic Madison Square Garden in the first period (right along side Spring) if it hadn't been for Spurs reserve guard Antonio Daniels hitting two improbable first quarter threes to keep us within striking distance. All told, New York, led by Allan Houston with 13 first quarter points, enjoyed an 11 point 32-21 advantage after the first quarter.
Having absorbed a powerful blow in the first, the Spurs punched back in the second. Following the lead of all-world power forward, Tim Duncan and former league MVP David Robinson, the Spurs outscored the Knicks 25-17 in the second quarter to cut the halftime deficit to 3 (49-46) and put ourselves within striking distance to take an insurmountable 3-0 series lead with a solid second half. Adding to the Knick's concern that the season might be slipping away was the fact that backup point guard Chris Childs got hurt and his second-half return was questionable. Avery Johnson had a good overall first half playing his role as floor general efficiently. Johnson would finish the night with 10 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal but the boxscore fails to do justice in conveying the impact that Avery had controlling the tempo and setting up his bigs to earn a lot of the credit for preventing the Spurs from succumbing to the energy of the Knicks and their crowd and getting blown out in the first half.
Relying on the stingy defense that had become our trademark throughout the playoff run, San Antonio started the third quarter 12-9 to tie the game up at 58. In one particular stretch, the Spurs defense forced New York into 12 consecutive missed field goals. True to form, Duncan and Robinson aka the Twin Towers led the defensive effort with pestering the Knicks into rushed shots and then gobbling up every rebound in sight. New York was able to eventually make up the three-point margin they had conceded earlier in the period and played San Antonio to even (16-16) by the end of the defensive-brawl of a third quarter. In so doing, New York was able to maintain its slight three point advantage heading into the fourth.
The tone for the final frame was set when Marcus Camby had a vicious follow up slam early in the period. The Madison Square Garden faithful were also given a boost by Chris Childs return to play in the final seconds of the third and seeing him retake the court to start the fourth. With momentum on their side, the Knicks extended the lead and kept us at bay as time on the clock (and for the Spurs to make a run) methodically ticked away. With 3:11 left to play, Sean Elliot hit a three that cut New York's lead to four (81-77) and that would prove to be as close as we would get to closing the margin late in the fourth. The Knicks held us off down the stretch by making most of their crunch time free throws.
Ultimately, the New York Knicks snagged their first NBA Finals victory in five years, winning 89-81 to cut the Spurs' series lead to 2-1. The most telling stat in explaining why the Spurs lost? Tim Duncan did not score in the fourth quarter. Even with a goose egg in crunch time, Timmy finished the game with a solid 20 points (8-16 from the field), 12 rebounds, three steals, two assists, and a block. The player of the game, however, was his Twin Tower running mate. David Robinson finished the night with 25 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks, and an assist. There was no question The Admiral could tasted his first title and wanted this game badly to put a strangle-hold on the series.
In the end, New York's own dynamic duo proved to be too much. Allan Houston finished with a gigantic 34 points and Latrell Spreewell tacked on another 24 points and five assists. Incredibly, this was the Spurs first playoff defeat since May 11th (an 80-71 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round) and the defeat snapped the Spurs' 12 game playoff winning streak. Setting playoff winning streak records was the furthest thing from the team's minds leaving the Garden that night. The 1999 NBA Finals was now a 2-1 series and that meant it was up for grabs. The Western Conference Champions had no choice but to regroup and start a new playoff winning streak. Our first opportunity would come two days later back in the Garden and for the next 48 hours, starting a new winning streak would be the only thing on our minds.
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B&S 20/20: The Small Matter of Planning a Coronation
1999 NBA Finals, Game 2
Learn to Fly - Sixth months prior to the turn of the century (and the millennium depending on your counting), the future looked pretty bright for the New York Knickerbockers and their fans. Their longtime finals-preventing-nemesis Michael Jordan was retired and the stranglehold on the Eastern Conference he and his Chicago Bulls had maintained during all of the non-baseball-interrupted nineties was no more. With an adoring fan-base, vast resources, and playing in the biggest market in the East, the Knicks were well positioned to dominate the conference in the coming decade. More importantly, New York had been gifted a rare opportunity to own the present. Stealthily weaving together their second Finals run of the nineties by overcoming the enormous odds of winning the East as the eighth-seed (and even more astronomical odds given they lost their franchise cornerstone Patrick Ewing to injury for the season during the process), even down 0-1 to our Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs heading into Game 2, the Knicks were, by any measure, playing with house money with the unlikely opportunity in front of them. Sure, the walls they needed to scale were daunting. Conquering the most imposing set of Twin Towers in NBA history would be no easy feat. The Spurs were a juggernaut but admittedly, we were an unproven one and NBA history suggested that opportunities to be the first team to climb the mountain the year after a dynasty falls don't come along very often. On June 18th, 1999, only two teams still had that opportunity and the Knicks were one of them. Regardless of the talent deficit, the New York and San Antonio franchises were on equal footing as far as trying to establish a championship-winning meddle and for that reason, the Knicks walked back into the Alamodome for Game 2 with a puncher's chance to steal the final chapter of the NBA's storied century.
In order to make good on their unlikely opportunity to close the century as champions, the Knicks needed to punch their ticket back to New York with a Game 2 victory and a 1-1 series. The history of the 2-3-2 NBA Finals format demanded as much. At the time, no team that had started the Finals on the road had ever swept their three home games in the middle of 2-3-2 format. That being the case, the Knicks could only reasonably expect to win two of their three home games in New York so, already down 0-1, Game 2 was a de facto must-win for the underdogs. Should the Spurs win Game 2, the Knicks could almost certainly expect to at best return to San Antonio down 3-2 and needing to win both final road games to win the series. Considering how much of an uphill challenge that would be, there was no getting around the fact that New York desperately needed a Game 2 victory and the split to realistically keep their title hopes alive.Once the game tipped off, despite playing with the necessary desperation, New York found themselves playing from behind all night in a defensive slugfest. The Spurs jumped out to an early 20-15 lead after one quarter but the Knicks needed a late spurt just to stay within striking distance. The Spurs building a lead and then the Knicks going on a run to close the gap proved to be the theme of the night. New York held San Antonio to even in the second quarter (19-19) and went into the halftime break still only down five. The Spurs outpaced the Knicks by two points in the third (17-15) to increase our lead to seven heading into the final frame. In the fourth quarter, San Antonio put New York away with a dominating 24-18 fourth quarter performance that put the Knicks exactly where they knew that couldn't afford to be...down 0-2 in the NBA Finals heading home.
The final score was an eye-popping 80-67. (That's right, the New York Knicks scored a putrid 67 points in an NBA Finals game.) The player of the game was once again Tim Duncan. Timmy had a monster 25 points (9-19 shooting), 15 rebounds, four blocks, and three assists. David Robinson stepped up big once again with 16 points (5-8 shooting), 11 rebounds, five blocks, and four assists. That's correct, you read that right. The Twin Towers combined for nine blocked shots to build upon one of the most dominating interior defensive Finals performances in NBA history. While Latrell Spreewell (26 points) and Allan Houston (19 points) led the charge in keeping the Knicks within striking distance for most of the game, neither shot the ball efficiently (.364 & .450, respectively) and could never find enough holes in the Spurs interior defense to keep pace with San Antonio's offense. Finally, I want to make a special note to recognize Spurs point guard Avery Johnson. By the numbers, Johnson's performance was quite pedestrian (eight points and five assists) but the numbers simply don't do justice to Avery's masterful floor game. All night he made sure Duncan and Robison got the ball in their preferred spots and controlled the pace of the game in such a way that eventually allowed the Spurs defense to grind the Knicks to dust. Taking a dominant 2-0 lead in the series and extending our playoff winning-streak to a then record 12 straight games, it was starting to look and feel like the San Antonio Spurs being crowned 1999 NBA Champions was simply a matter of time.
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B&S 20/20: The Hillary Step
1999 NBA Finals, Game 1
Get Ready for This - Throughout my childhood growing up in Central Texas, I had regularly dreamed about this moment. As far as moments go for a city and its fans, this one was huge and luckily, the city of San Antonio had a building huge enough in its own right to handle it. 39,514 success-starved, exuberant Spurs fans packed themselves into the Alamodome on June 16th, 1999 to be a part of history. Unfortunately, as many times as I had imagined participating in this historic event throughout my childhood, I was not one of them. While I had just completed my sophomore year in college at Trinity University in San Antonio, after the Spring semester I accepted a summer job back in Austin and I was working a demanding schedule that did not afford me the time off to make it back to San Antonio to take part in my beloved Spurs historic moment. If my memory serves me correctly, I watched history unfold in a pool hall with some work friends in Austin. Even though I wasn't there in person, it was still surreal seeing my Spurs, perennial regular season overachievers and playoff underachievers, host the first game in the NBA's showcase event of the post-Chicago Bulls dynasty. (More on that later.) When Spurs legend George Gervin strolled to center court to toss up the ceremonial jump ball that commemorated the Spurs being the first former ABA club to reach such a milestone, it started setting in for me that my childhood dream was becoming a reality. The San Antonio Spurs were finally about to play in the NBA Finals.
Going into the series, we were heavily favored over our opponents, the New York Knicks. Because of the lockout-shortened season, the Knicks came into the playoffs with a more talented roster than their seed (eighth) reflected. They were able to use that talent to become the first 8-seed in league history to advance to the NBA Finals, dispatching the higher-seeded Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, and Indiana Pacers to grab the Eastern Conference crown. Nonetheless, with franchise cornerstone Patrick Ewing sidelined due to injury for the series, the Knicks entered the series as one of the biggest underdogs in Finals history. It didn't help the Knicks title hopes that not only were they facing the 1-seed from the West but the Spurs were marching into the Finals boasting a 10-game playoff winning streak (our last loss against the Timberwolves in Game 2 of the first round). Despite the long odds, New York came out sharp in the first quarter taking an early 27-21 lead after one. The Knicks were led to the early lead by Allan Houston draining midrange jumpers and Latrell Spreewell making aggressive moves into the paint. Not to be overshadowed, Tim Duncan hit the first shot of the series, a signature bank shot from the elbow and established himself early as the best player in the series. By the second quarter, San Antonio had settled into form taking an eight-point lead (45-37) into the locker room. The second half was more of the same of what the Spurs showed in the second quarter, playing the Knicks even in the third and then outscoring them 18-14 in a defensive masterpiece of a fourth quarter. The outcome of the contest was never really in doubt in the second half. When the dust settled, the Spurs were leading their first-ever NBA Finals one game to none with a commanding 89-77 victory. Another thing was clear one game into the series. A player had emerged to grab the best basketball player in the world title that had been vacated by Michael Jordan at the beginning of the calendar year. And that player's debut on the NBA Finals stage demonstrated a similar dominance to His Airness' debut.
On June 2nd, 1991, after years of Eastern Conference playoff disappointment, Michael Jordan finally had his first opportunity to showcase his talents in the NBA's premier showcase, the NBA Finals. His Airness did not disappoint that night putting up a jaw-dropping 36 points (14-24 shooting), 12 assists, eight rebounds, and three steals in a hard-fought two point defeat for his Chicago Bulls against Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers (93-91). Jordan's Bulls would go on to win the next four straight and his first championship, followed by five more chips over the next seven seasons. Fast forward to the end of the decade and the title of best basketball player alive was up for grabs following Jordan's retirement on January 13th, 1999.
In a similar demonstration of dominance on basketball's biggest stage to the player from whom he was snatching the mantle, Tim Duncan produced an epic NBA Finals debut. En route to earning player of the game honors, Timmy had 33 points (13-21 shooting), 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks. It seems weird in retrospect given that Michael Jordan's NBA career began in 1984 and Tim Duncan's ended in 2016 that these two "Finals debut" performances were a mere eight years apart.Another key performer in the Game 1 victory was David Robinson. After 10 years of playoff disappointment as the Spurs "number one" option, the Admiral graciously accepted a new role in the lockout shortened 1999 season as the team's second option and defensive anchor. It paid off in a big way because not only was this game Tim Duncan's NBA Finals debut, but it was also Big Dave's NBA Finals debut as well. While not the legendary Finals debut of his younger teammates, Robinson had a fantastic all-around game with 13 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and three blocks. By the way, the Twin Towers combined five blocks in Game 1 does not do justice to how dominant the tandem was on the defensive end. They were dominant on that end of the court, disrupting numerous other shots while leading the way in limiting the Knicks to 31-81 from the field (.383) and only 77 total points.Finally, journeyman Jaren Jackson gets an honorable mention for his 17 point (6-13 shooting), two rebound, two assist, one steal performance. Jaren proved to be an important offensive spark plug off of the bench, hitting timely jumpers including an improbable, off-balance triple in the corner.
After the game, I remember leaving the pool hall in Austin beaming with confidence and bouncing off of the walls with anticipation. My long suffering, underdog, small market San Antonio Spurs were just three wins away from an NBA Championship. I remember being all smiles as I drove home to get some sleep that night after the game. I couldn't wait to see what would happen 48 hours later in Game 2. Friday night couldn't get here fast enough.
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B&S 20/20: Memorial Day Miracle
1999 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 2
Lose Yourself - Damon Stoudamire, Arvydas Sabonis, Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, Isaiah Rider, Stacey Augmon, Jim Jackson, Walt Williams, Jermaine O'Neal, and Greg Anthony came to play that day. As we knew they would. After all, every higher-seeded playoff team understands that stealing one of the first two games on the road as the underdog increases your chances of winning the series astronomically. Having lost 80-76 in the grind fest that was Game 1, the two-seeded Portland Trail Blazers, a healthy mix of talented budding superstars and savvy established veterans, were a confident (bordering on cocky) bunch that had every intention of advancing to the NBA Finals and, as a stepping stone towards that end, had every intention of winning Game 2 of the 1999 Western Conference Finals at the Alamodome in San Antonio against the one-seeded Spurs. Led by Mike Dunleavy, an experienced coach who already had one NBA Finals appearance under his belt (1991, as coach of the last Magic Johnson-led Los Angeles Lakers team to reach basketball's ultimate stage), the Blazers came into the game that Memorial Day afternoon poised and prepared to do what it would take to seize a home-court-advantage-stealing victory.
After one quarter, Portland was well on its way. The Blazers came out focused, shot well, and bullied their way to an early 31-20 eleven point lead after one. The second quarter slowed down to a sluggish stalemate as each team tried to impose their defensive will. When the dust settled on the first half, Portland had increased their lead by 14, out-grinding the Spurs 17-14 in the second period and taking a 48-34 advantage with them into the locker room. Part of the Blazer's recipe for holding San Antonio to a 34 point first half was keeping the Spur's young superstar Tim Duncan in relative check. Timmy seemed to get lost in the shuffle of the first half, missing a few free throws and battling the Blazers big men with less than his normal aggressiveness down low. Overall, the Spurs just seemed to be a step slow like we were stuck in cement. Boasting a seven-game playoff winning streak, I remember it being tempting down 14 at the half to just assume we were overdue for bad game and assume this just wasn't meant to be our afternoon. Certainly, the Blazers were counting on as much.
After halftime, the third quarter started with more of the same as the Blazers extended their lead to 18 points. Things started looking up when Sean Elliott made a three pointer that ignited a run for the Spurs to get back in the game. Everything finally just started clicking. Mario Ellie provided much needed energy to give the Spurs some life, David Robinson anchored the defense to give us some transition opportunities, Timmy started looking like Timmy, and Sean Elliott was hitting crucial three point baskets. By the end of the third, the home team had cut the halftime deficit in half, winning the quarter 26-19 and only trailing Portland 67-60 heading into the final frame. The Spurs continued their comeback push into the fourth quarter but each time we were able to cut the lead down to a two possession lead or less, Portland seemed to have an answer to continue to hold us at bay. Despite the improved second half play, things were still looking pretty grim with 1:05 left to play. We were still down six, 84-78. Luckily, we had possession of the ball coming out of a timeout and having demonstrated an ability to score in spurts during the second half, we still had a glimmer of hope. The ball was inbounded to Avery Johnson and our floor general ran a pick and role with The Admiral and, coming off the screen, fired the ball out to Sean Elliot on the left wing. Without hesitation, Sean rose up and buried his fifth three pointer of the game to cut the lead in half. With Portland now feeling a newfound sense of pressure nursing a one-possession lead, Jimmy Jackson caught the inbound pass, came back down, ran some clock, and got the ball to Rasheed Wallace on the left elbow. Wallace looked down into the low block where Jackson had established post position. He picked up his dribble to drop the ball in the post with Robinson draped all over him. As he tried to pass the ball, Big Dave got a finger on the pass and intercepted it. He quickly spotted Mario Ellie sprinting down the court and fired the outlet to him. Ellie caught the ball and drove hard into the paint, drawing a foul on the layup attempt. Mario, a two-time champion (Houston Rockets, 1994 & 95) and highly experienced playoff veteran calmly sank both foul shots cutting the lead to one, 84-83. Their statement road victory, now in catastrophic jeopardy, Portland called a timeout to regroup. Coming out of the timeout, the Blazers inbounded the ball to Wallace who immediately got it to Damon Stoudamire in order to set up a pick and role. Stoudamire came off of the Wallace screen and shot an elbow jump shot that clanked off of the rim. Unfortunately, the Spurs were unable to secure the rebound as Walt Williams rose up and snagged it. He got the ball back out to Wallace who fired it over to Jimmy Jackson and, now under 24 seconds left in the game, San Antonio was forced to foul. Sean fouled Jackson with 12.4 seconds left but, unable to catch a break, we weren't in the penalty yet. The Blazers took the ball out on the side and got it in to Stoudamire who was fouled immediately by Avery with 12.0 seconds remaining. With Mighty Mouse now facing two high-pressure shots one thing was clear: barring an offensive rebound on the second attempt, the Spurs were going to have a chance to either tie or win the game on their next possession.
Damon Stoudamire walked up the line to take what would prove to be the biggest free throw shots of his career and, after methodically dribbling the ball four times, misfired on the first attempt. A slight hint of dejection on his face, he went back into his routine and then made the second attempt to increase Portland's lead to two, 85-83. After the second shot went through the net, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called timeout to draw up a play. San Antonio came out of the timeout with 12 seconds left in the game and lined up a play that had Mario Ellie inbounding the ball. After seeing how the Spurs were set up, Portland used a delay of game warning to make the Spurs reset the inbound play. Using Steve Kerr as a decoy on the strong side, the Spurs ran Sean Elliott off of a David Robinson screen. Sean gained a hint of daylight on his defender Stacey Augmon coming off of Big Dave's screen and so Mario Ellie fired the ball to him in the corner. Augmon gambled by going for the steal and when he missed it, he was effectively out of the play. Rasheed Wallace alertly started coming over to help as Sean caught the ball on his tippy toes in the corner. He was so close to the sidelines that had he put his heels down on the ground, he would've been out of bounds. Maybe he was aware of his proximity to the sideline or maybe it was simply fate but instead of bringing his heels down, he turned and fired a three off of his tippy toes and over the closing outstretched long arms of Rasheed Wallace and buried the Memorial Day Miracle with nine seconds left to give the Spurs an improbable 86-85 lead.
Forty seven minutes and fifty one seconds. Once again, after trailing for the first forty seven minutes and fifty one seconds of the game, Sean Elliott’s miracle, tippy-toe, rainbow three over the outstretched fingertips of Rasheed Wallace gave the San Antonio Spurs their first lead of the game. Our first lead of the game would also prove to be the final score as Portland was unable to get a clean look in the final seconds coming out of a timeout. After the Spurs returned the favor using their delay of game, Portland inbounded to Jimmy Jackson who drove and attempted a shot that was blocked. The blocked shot popped back out to Walt Williams who fired a desperation attempt that unsuccessfully bounced off the backboard and the rim. After a scramble for the rebound, Avery Johnson came out of a scrum with the basketball and the miracle comeback was complete. The Spurs won the game in unbelievable heroic fashion, 86-85.
I remember watching Sean's shot go in and believing for the first time, after years of agonizing playoff heartbreak, that my Spurs could and would win a championship. In many ways, the Memorial Day Miracle was the spark that ignited a basketball revolution in South Texas that continues to burn true to this very day. The five NBA championships, six conference championships, perennial playoff appearances, the universal recognition as the NBA’s model franchise, all of it can be traced back to Sean’s shot. To this day, it is still probably the most memorable moment in franchise history and one that Spurs fans have come to cherish. Considering that Sean Elliot has spent the better part of the last twenty years as the Spurs' color television analyst, it's probably also the most shown highlight in team history. Season after season, Sean is always more than happy to talk about the shot during Spurs broadcast anytime the Fox Sports Southwest team feels compelled to show the replay.
The player of the game was, of course, Sean Elliott. After draining the biggest shot in franchise history, the most beloved Spurs small forward of all-time finished 6-7 from downtown (8-10 overall) to come up with his 22 huge points. He also chipped in two rebounds, two assists, and a steal towards the mesmerizing comeback victory. After a quiet start in the first half, Tim Duncan finished the game with impressive numbers, as well. Timmy finished with 23 points (8-11 shooting), 10 rebounds, five blocks, and two assists. Last but not least was David Robinson's impressive stat line. The Admiral finished with 14 points (6-10 shooting), seven rebounds, two assists, and three huge steals (the last of which gave the Spurs the two Mario Ellie free throws that put them in position to win the game). As you might've guessed, the Trailblazers were unable to recover from the devastating loss dropping both home games in Portland. The sweep in the 1999 Western Conference Finals sent the San Antonio Spurs to their first-ever NBA Finals to face the New York Knicks. It's incredible to think about the fact that it's been 20 years since the Memorial Day Miracle. Since theLeftAhead wasn't established until 2011 and the Black & Silver blog series didn't exist for the first four Spurs championships, in keeping with the practice of featuring a blog post about each episode of Friends on the 20th anniversary of it's airing with Friends 20/20, I'm really excited to relive some of the most important moments in the first four Spurs title runs on the 20th anniversary of important playoff games through this new mini-series, B&S 20/20. What better place to start than the Memorial Day Miracle. See you next month for the 1999 NBA Finals.
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Thirteen Port
2019 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 6
Things Done Changed - Gregg Popovich is 3-3 coaching in Game 7s. He won his first at home on basketball's biggest stage in an 81-74 defensive masterpiece against the Detroit Pistons to closeout the bloodbath that was also known as the 2005 NBA Finals and capture our third NBA title. Manu Ginobili, the most beloved Spur that Pop has ever coached, was magnificent in the championship-clinching victory tallying 23 points (8-13 from the field, 5-5 from the line), five rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Coach Pop lost his second Game 7 the following season again at home, this time battling our Texas arch rival Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 Western Conference Semifinals. In that series, we stormed back from being down three games to one and would've closed out the Mavs with a Manu three in the last minute, except for future Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki having other ideas. We dropped a heartbreaker that night in overtime 119-111 largely due to Nowitzki's heroic 37 points, 15 rebound, three assist, one block, and one steal performance. Popovich coached his first-ever road Game 7 in his third winner-take-all contest in the 2008 Western Conference Semifinals against the New Orleans Hornets. After being 0-3 playing in New Orleans heading into Game 7, the Spurs closed out the Chris Paul-led scrappy Hornets 91-82. Manu once again led the way with 26 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Back on basketball's biggest stage, Coach Pop came up short in his second road (fourth overall) Game 7 in the 2013 NBA Finals, losing the game and the title 95-88 to the Miami Heat. Considering we'd just experienced the most painful loss in franchise history 48 hours earlier, it was a masterful coaching effort by Pop and a valiant effort by the Spurs but, ultimately, LeBron James' 37 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steal were just too much to overcome. In Pop and the Spurs very next playoff series, we served our rivals from Dallas some revenge for 2006, winning Pop's 5th Game 7 at home 119-96 in the 2014 Western Conference First Round against the Mavericks. Tony Parker played a dominant offensive game scoring 32 points en route to series win and ultimately our 5th title. The next season, once again in a Western Conference First Round Game 7 situation, Coach Pop and the Spurs, this time on the road (after dropping from the 3-seed to the 6-seed on the final day of the regular season with a no-show performance ironically in New Orleans) dropped another heartbreaker 111-109 to the Los Angeles Clippers. Chris Paul capped his 27 point, six assists performance with the game winner, a shot that was literally millimeters away from being blocked. So yes, all told, Coach Pop is 3-3 in Game 7s. The more perceptive among you may have noticed a pattern to Pop's 3-3 Game 7 record. For those of you that don't want to take the time to go back and re-read the paragraph in order to figure out the pattern, here it is: winning then losing then winning then losing then winning then losing. I'm no master code cracker, but it seems to me that according to the pattern, Gregg Popovich's next Game 7 should be a win. Of course (full disclosure), there was one constant in all of Coach Pop's previous six Game 7's that will unfortunately be noticeably absent for his seventh: The Greatest Power Forward of All-Time. Let's pause for a moment and pay our respects...
Tim Duncan - Career Game 7 Performances
2005 NBA Finals Game 7 - Detroit Pistons @ San Antonio Spurs
25 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks - 6/23/2005
2006 Western Conference Semifinals Game 7 - Dallas Mavericks @ San Antonio Spurs
41 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal - 5/22/2006
2008 Western Conference Semifinals Game 7 - San Antonio Spurs @ New Orleans Hornets
16 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal - 5/19/2008
2013 NBA Finals Game 7 - San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat
24 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, 1 block - 6/18/2013
2014 Western Conference First Round - Dallas Mavericks @ San Antonio Spurs
15 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist - 5/4/2014
2015 Western Conference First Round - San Antonio Spurs @ Los Angeles Clippers
27 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist - 5/2/2015
Career Game 7 Averages
24.7 points, 12 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1 steal per game
Happy Birthday, TD! I hope you had an awesome b-day on Thursday. How'd you like the party the San Antonio Spurs threw for you at the AT&T Center Thursday night? I know, right? That party was lit. Anyway, I actually have something else to discuss with you. I know you have the 21 USVI Duncan Relief Fund, your auto shop, kickboxing, and your wonderful family keeping you busy, but just in case all of that isn't adequately filling up your retirement calendar, I know of a nice little pickup basketball game that some of your friends will be playing here in Denver tonight. I'm sure they'd be happy to get the help of a 24.7 point, 12 rebound, 2.7 assist, 1.3 block, 1 steal power forward performance during tonight's Mile High run. So do you wanna come through? What's that? You're not going to be able to get here to Denver on short notice? Okay, gotcha. No worries, I totally understand. I know you're super busy. It was worth a shot, though, right? It's still all good that you can't get up here in time because one of your former teammates told me that as a belated b-day gift, he's going to honor you with his best attempt at an impersonation and put everything he's got into channeling your greatness from the moment the first ball gets checked until we turn out the lights because there's no challengers left to get next. Speaking of which, LA also asked me to tell you, "Happy Birthday, Old Man." Okay, cool. I'll let him know you said, "thanks." Alright, Timmy. It's been good catching up. Sorry to let you go but I've got a blog post to finish writing. Enjoy the rest of your birthday celebration. Let's talk again soon but in case we don't cross paths before it, I'm looking forward to seeing you the September after next in Springfield, MA.
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On Thursday night, the heirs to Tim Duncan's San Antonio playoff fortress gave the former king of Texas postseason basketball a spectacular 43rd birthday present, defeating the visiting Denver Nuggets 120-103 at home in Timmy's house (aka the AT&T Center) to keep the season alive and force the first Game 7 of the post-Duncan era. With our backs against the wall and when we needed it the most, we finally got solid performances up and down the roster. As has often been the case in this series, our two stars led the charge. LaMarcus Aldridge came out of the gate in beast mode, scoring 13 points in the first quarter while setting the tone for the game with his intensity. LA finished his night with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. Not to be outdone, DeMar DeRozan (mostly a facilitator in the first half) aggressively attacked the heart of Denver's defense with an array of spectacular drives and pull up mid-range jumpers to score 12 points in the third quarter. DeMar finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. The player of the game, however, was Rudy Gay. Coming off the bench, Rudy had his best performance of the series contributing 19 points, four rebounds, and two assists in 28 tough-nosed minutes. Rudy's production was so critical, he got the POTG nod but I really want to emphasize that this was special all-around team elimination game performance. All five starters shot better than 50 percent from the field (DeRozan [12-16], Aldridge [10-18], Forbes [5-8], Poeltl [4-6], and White [4-7]) and for the first time since Game 1 of this series, our bench outscored the Nuggets' bench (36-13). Also for the first time since Game 1 of this series, the Spurs outshot Denver from deep going 10-24 (41.7 percent) compared to the Nuggets 6-24 (25 percent). While our shooters (with the exception of Patty [0-7]) made a marked improvement on three-point production (Rudy Gay [3-3], Derrick White [2-3], Bryn Forbes [2-4], Marco Belinelli [2-4]), I wouldn't exactly call it the break-out three-point shooting performance that we're overdue for in this series. That is good news heading into tonight. If things keep regressing to the mean (as they should) in Game 7, we can feel good that our shooters will make a huge impact from behind the arc in tonight's winner-take-all contest. Now more overdue for a breakout performance than any other Spurs marksman, I fully expect Patty Mills to be leading that charge.
There is nothing else in basketball quite like a Game 7. The pressure and the intensity are impossible to replicate so until a player has actually been through one, it's impossible for that player to truly know what to expect and fully appreciate the stakes. So how do the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets stack up as far as prior Game 7 experience? I was curious to have the answer to this question so yesterday I did a little bit of research. First for the Spurs, DeMar DeRozan has the most Game 7 experience of any player in the series. For the 2014 Toronto Raptors, DeMar had 18 points (5-12 shooting) in 45 minutes in a First Round Game 7 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. In 2016, DeMar led the Raptors to a First Round Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers scoring 30 points (10-32 shooting) in 40 minutes. In the very next round, DeMar scored 28 points (12-29 shooting) in 35 minutes for the Raptors in a Eastern Conference Semifinals win over the Miami Heat. For the 2012 Memphis Grizzlies, Rudy Gay scored 19 points (7-15 shooting) in 40 minutes in a First Round Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. In the same game, Quincy Pondexter came off the Grizzlies' bench scoring three points (1-2 shooting) in 13 minutes and Dante Cunningham also came off the Grizzlies' bench scoring two points (1-2) shooting in three minutes. Quincy was also on the roster for the 2014 Memphis Grizzlies First Round Game 7 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but was not active (out-for-the-season with a right foot injury). For the 2013 Chicago Bulls, Marco Belinelli had 24 points (8-14 shooting) in 41 minutes in a First Round Game 7 win over the Brooklyn Nets. In our infamous 2015 First Round Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Marco had two points (0-2 shooting) in 18 minutes off of the bench. Patty Mills had six points (2-6 shooting) in 16 minutes off of the bench in the same game. Patty was also on our roster during the 2013 NBA Finals but was not active for Game 7. Donatas Motiejunas was on the 2015 Houston Rockets roster when they won a Western Conference Semifinals Game 7 over the Los Angeles Clippers but he did not play (out-for-the-season with a back injury). Funnily enough, in his 13-year NBA career, LaMarcus Aldridge has never played in a Game 7. Tonight will be his first.
The only rotations players on the Nuggets roster with Game 7 experience are Paul Millsaps and Mason Plumlee. As a rookie for the 2007 Utah Jazz, Millsaps scored two points in seven minutes off the bench in a First Round Game 7 win against the Houston Rockets. For the 2014 Atlanta Hawks, Millsaps scored 15 points (6-21 shooting) in 44 minutes in a First Round Game 7 loss to the Indiana Pacers. As a rookie, Plumlee logged scored two points and logged 5 minutes for the 2014 Brooklyn Nets in their Western Conference First Round Game 7 victory over DeMar's Raptors. Outside of the Nuggets' rotation, a pre-injury Isaiah Thomas scored 29 points (9-21 shooting) in 40 minutes for the 2017 Boston Celtics in an Eastern Conference Semifinal Game 7 win against the Washington Wizards. Trey Lyles was on the roster of the 2017 Utah Jazz who won a First Round Game 7 against the Los Angeles Clippers but Trey did not enter that game. And that's it. For most of Denver's core of young players who are playing in their very first playoff series, obviously tonight is going to be their first Game 7 experience. All told, the Spurs have 15 Game 7s under our belt (counting Pop's six) to the Nuggets four. Our players have logged 251 Game 7 minutes and scored 114 Game 7 points (led by DeMar's 120 minutes and 76 points). Denver's players have logged 96 Game 7 minutes and scored 48 Game 7 points (29 of those by Isaiah Thomas who is unlikely to see action tonight). When it comes to Game 7's, the San Antonio Spurs have a distinct experience advantage over the Denver Nuggets.
Unfortunately for us, the Nuggets have their own advantage tonight; this Game 7 is being played in Denver. Coming off of his monster 43 point, 12 rebound, and nine assist performance in a Game 6 losing effort, I'm sure Nicola Jokic is expecting to pick up right where he left off, this time with the luxury of a rowdy Pepsi Center crowd cheering him on. Much like Game 6, it may be part of Coach Pop's game plan to continue to allow the Joker to get his points but try to take away his cutters and shooters in order to throw Denver out of its offensive rhythm. Then again, the Michael Malone-tagged Bobby Fischer of basketball may attack the Nugget's king with a completely different strategy. Either way, the key to neutralizing Denver's homeport advantage is for us to slow down the pace, protect the ball, and (no matter how well Jokic plays carrying his team) limit the Nugget's fast break opportunities. I sat among the Denver fans last Tuesday during Game 5. There was a lot of nervous silence in the stands at the beginning of the game when we got out to a 9-4 lead. As soon as the Nuggets converted their first fast break and subsequently parlayed it into one of their lethal offensive blitzes the building erupted in noise and confidence. We can't allow that to happen again tonight. Instead, if we can limit fast break opportunities, the pressure and stakes of needing to rely on superior half court execution to prevail should weigh on Denver's young players and provide for a nervous rather than raucous Pepsi Center crowd. We need to set a tone that establishes the game will played at our pace from the opening tip tonight. Because we decisively control the experience advantage, the Nuggets may very well (in their lack of Game 7 experience) allow us to establish our pace. If they don't, we need to use our experience-advantage to force them into it because their home-court advantage becomes infinitely more powerful when they're allowed to get out and run. The crowd feeds off of pace and in return Denver plays better when they're able to feed off of the crowd. If we allow Denver to turn this into a track meet, we're probably in for a very long night. It's going to be interesting to see what ultimately wins out between our experience advantage and their home court advantage but because this is the first Game 7 for seven of the Nugget's nine rotation players compared to only four of our eight, I really like our chances to be the 29th team in league history to win Game 7 on the road.
The formula for completing the upset tonight and extending our season has three main ingredients. First, LaMarcus Aldridge needs to control the paint on both ends of the court the way Tim Duncan did in his first-ever Game 7. (You know, that one against the Pistons to win the 2005 title that we talked about earlier.) A trip to visit his former employer out in the Pacific Northwest is within reach and since I know that a trip down memory lane would be a lot of fun for LA, I'm confident he's going to rise to the challenge. The second ingredient is DeMar DeRozan using his series-high three Game 7s of experience to impose his will on the Denver Nuggets by attacking down hill, drawing fouls, and knocking down his patented turnaround jumpers. Despite being on a two-game Game 7 winning streak (and being the best player in both of those games), there is an existing narrative that DeMar DeRozan is a playoff choker. Most of that criticism comes from DeMar's Raptors repeatedly falling short against LeBron James, the game's greatest active player. So while, in my opinion, the narrative is unfair, but it exists nevertheless. Tonight, free of the pressure that comes with putting an entire nation on your back, DeMar can silence the choker narrative and cunningly pass it along to Denver's young superstars to see how they handle the annoyances that come with failing to meet expectations. After a season of getting to experience the competitiveness of Double D, I know he's preparing to do exactly that. Finally, there's Coach Pop. Nothing would be more Popiavellian (yes, with all respect due to Niccolò Machiavelli, I'm stealing this) than to devise a gameplay for tonight that steadily applies atmospheric pressure to Denver's playoff oxygen until it eventually evaporates into the Mile High air. The old ball coach has seen and prevailed in every imaginable situation (including this one) and has had an entire season now to teach his first Duncan-Parker-Ginobili-less group of players since the 1996-97 season that the key to playoff success is to continue pounding the rock until it breaks. Tonight, with the greatest coach of all-time manning the sideline, the #BlackAndSilver will have the formula for breaking the formidable Denver Nugget rock into a thousand tiny pebbles. And if we follow that formula with attention to detail, competitiveness and execution, we will get to savor in the experience of watching every single last pebble drop from the highest-elevated Rocky Mountain peak back down to earth like a rolling stone.
Featured Image Source: Beats from Beijing
Four Saṃsāra
2018 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 5
All Night - In his late-14th Century poem “Troilus and Criseyde,” Geoffrey Chaucer penned the phrase, “All good things must come to an end.” The poem is about the tragic love story of Troilus and Criseyde and is set against the Siege of Troy as a backdrop. As with every good thing that has come before, one could assume the love affair between the city of San Antonio and winning at the highest level in the NBA has finally come to an end against the backdrop of the Siege of Uncle Dennis. Coming into the 2018-19 season, many of the so-called experts were salivating with delight to make this assumption. There was a healthy trend among the handsomely paid prognosticator lot to pick the San Antonio Spurs to finish 9th, 10th, or even 11th in the Western Conference standings for the 2018-19 season. After all, more than a few of these so-called experts have already been predicting our demise for going on a decade or more now. You might think that year after year of being proven wrong time and time again might humble these so-called experts and perhaps even push them to feel the human emotions that we, the self-aware Homo sapiens, call embarrassment and shame. Unfortunately, should you think this, you'd eventually come to discover that our NBA prognosticator friends are callously devoid of these human emotions. As it turns out, being a so-called NBA expert requires one to suffer from a quite vicious personality disorder: talking-out-of-your-assicissism. Every season, something in the so-called NBA expert's gut tells him or her that this will be the year that the San Antonio Spurs run of sustained excellence will end and his or her ego implores him or her to make this prediction as loudly and flamboyantly as possible, evidence be damned. Isn't it funny how we never (ever ever ever) hear an acknowledgment of getting it wrong from the so-called NBA expert when the season ends and the Spurs have qualified for the postseason once again? In fairness, who has time to admit a mistake when you've got a busy schedule of cashing your lucrative "expert" checks and polishing your precious talking points so they're ready to be recycled for the next season. It is a little known fact that in every broadcast journalism program in the country a class is offered called "How to Be an NBA Expert For Dummies 101." In this class, future prognosticators are taught by their esteemed instructor Jeff Van Lundy (it's an online class, so yes, JVG teaches it everywhere) to take a lesson from the saying that Austrian writer Marie von Ebner-Eshenback is credited with penning: even a broken clock is right twice a day. This is surely sound advice for almost every NBA prognostication a future so-called expert will be asked to make during his or her career. Unfortunately for Van Gundy's students, there is one glaring exception. When it comes to the San Antonio Spurs run of sustained excellence and the so-called experts who cover us, the broken clocks are never right.If you're reading this and asking in your head, "But Ted, what about last season? The Spurs were merely first-round fodder for the eventual-champions. How does that count towards sustained excellence?" Of course we all remember when on April 25th of last year, the San Antonio Spurs were eliminated by the "gluttony of more" Golden State Warriors 99-91 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. (The player of the game was LaMarcus Aldridge with a workman's 30 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists.) I would argue that the defeat came with a huge asterisks. For the first time since the Spurs drafted David Robinson in 1987, a Spurs franchise player put himself ahead of the team. And not only did this player put himself ahead of the team, make no mistake about it, he flat out quit on the team in mid-March. Setting aside for a moment the fact that Kawhi Leonard abandoned the franchise that helped develop him from a raw wing-defending prospect into an NBA superstar, San Antonio still won 47 games and entered the postseason with a roster (on paper) that was equipped to compete for a championship. Keep in mind that Stephen Curry was injured and ruled out for our first-round series against his Warriors. Now pick back up that Kawhi thing. Had the medically-cleared-to-play Leonard possessed the integrity and competitive spirit to set his aside his ego and instead earn his paycheck, the Spurs / Curry-less Warriors first round matchup would've been a toss up. Trust me, had Leonard played, there would've been a googolplex of Silicon Valley tech geeks sweating through their Kevin Durant Warriors jerseys so profusely, you'd've been able to see the purple bleeding through from the Kobe Bryant Lakers t-shirts they wear underneath. (Yes, this is descriptive writing calling out Warriors fans for being bandwagon converted Kobe-era Lakers fans.) The bottom-line? Had even a rusty Leonard chosen to play in the first round matchup with the Curry-less defending champion Warriors, I believe the Spurs win the series in 6. Last season's inability on the part of the Spurs to overcome being ghosted by Kawhi Leonard and consequently bowing out in the first round to the defending champs in five games is simply a bad luck break. When you field a championship-caliber roster every single damn season, you're going to have a few of those seasons end because of bad breaks. 2018 was no different than 2009 (when Manu was out for the playoffs due to injury) or 2000 (when Timmy was out for the playoffs due to injury). Sure, in this case, we were dealing with a pampered star who could've played and chose not to whereas those other players were stars because they were willing to give their left nut (in Manu's case, literally) for the opportunity to compete for a championship. But in the end, it's nearly impossible to legitimately compete for a ring when one of your best players misses the playoffs and effectively, that truth is what sealed our 2018 fate. This, friends, brings me full circle to my original point. SCORE BOARD ALERT: The San Antonio Spurs have been in title contention for over two decades and have booked the following results:
1998: 56 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
1999: 37 wins, NBA Champions
2000: 53 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2001: 58 wins, Western Conference Finalists
2002: 58 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2003: 60 wins, NBA Champions
2004: 57 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2005: 59 wins, NBA Champions
2006: 63 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2007: 58 wins, NBA Champions
2008: 56 wins, Western Conference Finalists
2009: 54 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2010: 50 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2011: 61 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2012: 50 wins, Western Conference Finalists
2013: 58 wins, NBA Finalists
2014: 62 wins, NBA Champions
2015: 55 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2016: 67 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2017: 61 wins, Western Conference Finalists
2018: 47 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2019: 48 wins, To be determined...
Somehow, we continue to defy Marie von Ebner-Eshenback's logic (which just so happens to be backed by the scientific laws of physics) that even a broken clock is right twice a day. The so-called NBA experts predict our demise year over year and year over year Coach Pop leads the Spurs back to the playoffs and makes them look foolish. With all deference to the wisdom in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, all good things mustn't come to an end. One good thing continues to persevere. The Spurs enter the 2019 NBA playoffs with a roster equipped and in position to make another deep postseason run. To tie a bow on this thought, I see the writings of Ebner-Eshenback and Chaucer and raise you the writings of the incomparable Mark Twain. Paraphrasing Twain, reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated.
* * *
Hello, Mr. Leonard. Can I call you Mr. Leonard? I know I used to call you Kawhi. But I used to think we were (Spurs) family. I also used to think you were the Chosen One. I used to believe in you so much, you're tagged in the Black & Silver blog series more times than Tim Duncan for Pop's sake. But that was then and this is now. Given what’s transpired, I feel much more comfortable calling you Mr. Leonard, if it’s all the same to you. Oh, and I fully plan to rectify the tagged-more-times-than-Timmy problem before the completion of the 2019 installment.
Think whatever you want about the way the Spurs handled your injury, the bottom line is that you quit on the team. As far as I’m concerned, your choice to abandon your team during the 2018 playoffs is a black mark on your career that will permanently be a part of your legacy. As far as I’m concerned, you can now never earn a place in the history books among the fiercest competitors, best players, or greatest champions. No matter how many accolades you rack or how much adulation is showered upon you moving forward by Raptors fans, or Clippers fans, or Lakers fans, you will always be remembered in my book as Kawhi Leonard: Quitter or Kawhitter for short. I know last time we spoke during the Golden State series, I defended your choice to err on the side of caution with your injury and sit out. What I’ve come to understand is that by late-March of 2018, I was already in the grieving process for coping with your betrayal but at the time of the Golden State series (late-April 2018), I did not know it yet because I was smack dab in the middle of the denial phase.I always knew that the Big Three era of Spurs basketball would eventually come to an end. But your decision to put yourself ahead of the team sure did have a way of ensuring that the end came with guillotine precision. Four-time Champion Tony Parker: signed to the Charlotte Hornets. Four-time champion Manu Ginobili: retired. God damn, Mr. Leonard. What, did you stop by and egg Tim Duncan’s house on your way out of town too?
There was so much I wanted to say to you after the trade last July. I was filled with so much anger, hurt, confusion over your betrayal I was ready to write a novel about it. Frankly, after reflecting on things for eight months now, I no longer feel you're worth the energy it would take me to spend 10,000 words excoriating you. Look, we have an NBA regular season of separation now from the divorce. Time and distance really do make a difference. I don’t know if I’ll ever really know your reasons for asking for the divorce and for as long as I live, I know I’ll occasionally circle back to ponder what might have been, what should have been had Zaza Pachulia not wrecklessy ended your 2016-17 season in Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals and set into motion this “Back to the Future Part II” alternate reality that has you playing the role of pampered superstar for another NBA franchise instead of continuing to accept the challenge of replacing Tim Duncan as the Black & Silver face of the franchise and raising more banners into the AT&T Center rafters. But time and distance have allowed me to really appreciate the fact that I get to watch DeMar DeRozan every single night. DeMar is one of the most electrifying scorers and playmakers to ever take the court in a Spurs uniform. From an entertainment standpoint, give me DeMar's silky-smooth 360 spin move to the rack that results in an improbable kick out to a wide-open shooter in the corner over your methodical, deliberate, tunnel-vision turnaround jumper every single day of the week. Of course Demar is not the defensive player that you were for us. I'm okay with that, though, because Derrick White and DeJounte Murray have the potential to be and when both of them finally have the opportunity to take the court together alongside DeMar, Aldridge, and Poeltl I'm happy with our chances to once-again field an elite defensive lineup for the 2019-20 season.
Anyway, I guess that's it, Mr. Leonard. I don't want to keep you. I'm sure Uncle Dennis has a New Balance commercial shoot he needs you to bring your personality-less personality and creepy Grandpa laugh to as soon as we wrap up. Oh wait, there he is now pulling back into the parking lot in his new 2020 limited-edition Mercedes Coattails 500. Man, that's a nice ride. He deserves it, though. He's put it a lot of long, hard, laborious hours converting you to the Dark Side of the Force. Closure really is a wonderful thing, isn't it, Mr. Leonard? You see how closure is allowing us to joke again? Look, you're even smiling. As much as I appreciate your smile...wait, please don't laugh. Save it for the New Balance commercial. Whew, that was a close call. In all seriousness, Mr. Leonard, thank you for your contribution to the San Antonio Spurs. Thanks for your role in raising that fifth championship banner into the AT&T Center rafters. I wish you nothing but the best of luck with the rest of your career (except against the San Antonio). Please tell Danny we miss him.
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Tim Duncan had brief flirtation with the Orlando Magic in the summer of 2000. I remember in my heart at the time, I didn’t think he would leave. Don’t get me wrong, I remember being scared shitless and a nervous wreck for several weeks, but deep down I believed unequivocally in his loyalty to my team and city. The day it was announced he was re-signing with San Antonio, I remember thinking, “there is no longer any doubt that he will be a Spur his entire career.” And, as it turned out, I never once had to go back and question that thought during the final sixteen years of Timmy's career.
There was a brief 48-hour period during the summer of 2016, when ex-Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown and his Philadelphia 76ers made a strong play to acquire Manu Ginobili with a massive two-year $30 million contract offer, that I was forced to entertain the idea that the most beloved Spur of all-time might not play his entire NBA career for the franchise. I remember not having to dig as deep as I did during Timmy’s 2000 free-agency to find the confidence to believe in Manu’s loyalty. In the end, as I expected, the Spurs ponied up some overdue extra cash to a legend who had been underpaid the previous year (a measly 2.8 million) and re-signed #20 to a one-year $14 million contract putting the uncomfortable contemplation of having to see Manu in another jersey to bed quickly. 48 hours of minimal doubt over the span of a 16-year career ain’t bad. You couldn’t ask for less discomfort.
Of the Spurs legendary “Big Three,” Tony Parker was the only one that forced me to regularly contemplate the idea of him taking the floor at the AT&T Center as a visitor at some point in his career. The “Tony Parker might not re-sign” rumors started as early as 2009. After losing in five games during the first round as the three-seed in the 09 Playoffs to the sixth seeded and rival Dallas Mavericks, Tony Parker started giving quotes about how the Spurs were no longer at a championship-caliber level. For the next three years, rumors swirled on San Antonio’s local sports talk radio about Tony jumping ship. From his initial comments until the unraveling of his marriage to actress Eva Longoria, the specific rumor was that Tony would eventually leave the Spurs to go play with Kobe Bryant out in Los Angeles for another hated-rival, the Lakers. Once he was divorced from Longoria and the Hollywood lifestyle, that rumor slowly faded but Tony continued to talk openly about eventually leaving the Spurs for another NBA club until the Spurs were rebuilt to go on another three-year-long championship hunt from 2012-14. After the Spurs were bounced in the first round of the 2015 playoffs in a hard-fought seven game slugfest of a series with the L.A. Clippers, Tony restarted public contemplation of ending his career for another NBA team and added a new wrinkle. He threw in the possibility of finishing his career playing professionally in his native France for the EuroLeague club he owns, Villeurbanne. Suffice it to say, of the Spurs’ “Big Thee,” Tony Parker is the one who, in regards to his legacy, seemed the least concerned about playing his entire career in Black & Silver.
The announcement on July 7th, 2018 that Tony Parker would sign a two-year $10 million deal with the Charlotte Hornets was not shocking, but it was still surprising and it coupled as utterly gut-wrenching. After 17 seasons at the helm of our ship, it was hard to imagine TP in another uniform. So yes, it was weird when the first photos of TP wearing Purple and Teal surfaced on Twitter. And yes, it was uncomfortable to watch him come off the bench at the Amway Center in Orlando on October 19th, 2018 and lay a goose egg on 0-5 shooting in 16 minutes for the Charlotte Hornets in his first NBA game not playing for San Antonio (he did have six assists, though). And, of course, it was flat-out weird to watch Tony return to the AT&T Center on January 14th to help his Hornets defeat our Spurs 108-93 with eight points and four assists in 19 minutes off the bench. All of this was tough. All of this was weird. But given the history of Tony speaking openly for a decade about the possibility of leaving the Spurs that's documented above, none of it was shocking.
As we struggled with the weirdness of Tony toiling away as a mentor and role player for a middling squad in the Eastern Conference, thankfully there was closure to be had and it came late in the season in the form of Manu Ginobili's jersey retirement ceremony. As luck would have it (or perhaps this was intentionally planned), the Spurs play the Hornets in Charlotte the game before Manu's jersey retirement night. With permission from the Hornets, Tony flew back to San Antonio from Charlotte on the Spurs' team plane to attend the ceremony. During the game, he was spotted sitting next to Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili in the stands. By the time Tony delivered his hilarious and fitting tribute to Manu during the ceremony, it felt as if he never left. In that moment, not only did I get closure from the weirdness of Tony Parker: Charlotte Hornets Back-Up Point Guard, I realized the deeper context driving the closure. TP's new identity as a journeyman is a technicality. Tony Parker is a Spur for life.In thinking about the quintessential Tony Parker moment, I remember too many dagger pull-up jumpers to seal a playoff win to name or count. The one play that seems to stand out was from Game One of the 2013 NBA Finals. Even though we ultimately did not win that series, the play epitomizes the craftiness, fearlessness, resilience, and perseverance that Parker played with throughout his entire 17-year Spurs career. I'm just going to leave the clip of that shot right here and end these reflections by saying, #MerciTony.
* * *
It was about this time of year. I remember feeling hyped for the postseason. We were heading into the playoffs as the three seed but that was of no matter. After all, we had just one the title two years earlier from the very same position as a three seed. I got up on an early-April morning daydreaming about how we were about to be going on a tear back to the NBA Finals (and getting some Western Conference Finals revenge on the Los Angeles Lakers in the process) when I checked my phone only to discover that the top headline in the San Antonio Express-News was that Manu Ginobili would miss the playoffs due to injury. In an instant, right then and there, I knew we would not be making that tear back to the Finals. For all intents and purposes, the season was over. Sure enough, we were upset by the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the first round.If I could sum up Manu Ginobili in one word, it would be hope. As long as Manu Ginobili was suiting up for the San Antonio Spurs, I had hope that the last game of each season would end with the Black & Silver hoisting a trophy. Only the fiercest of the fierce competitors genuinely illicit hope on that level. The Larry Birds. The Michael Jordans. The Kobe Bryants. Manu Ginobili belongs right alongside these players on the pantheon of the NBA’s greatest competitors. Coach Pop expressed this exact sentiment in a video tribute that was played during Manu's jersey retirement ceremony on March 28th. No matter what the situation, no matter how big the odds stacked against us, as long as there was time left on the clock and Number 20 was on the court, Spurs fans could always bask in the eternal warmth of hope. There was always a chance because of Manu Ginobili's competitiveness.
I'll be honest, I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to write this Ginobili retirement piece and put into words what Manu has meant to me as a life-long Spurs fan. I summed Manu (the player) up in one word: hope. I'll respectively sum up my experience as a fan watching his entire NBA career in one word as well: joy. The competitiveness, the creativity, the basketball intellect, the relentless will to win; all such a joy to watch night after night, year after year. Reflecting on the fact that I no longer get to watch the most beloved Spur of all-time play basketball doesn't make me sad. I set out into my reflection thinking that it will but the instant a vision of Manu Euro-stepping through traffic to finish at the rim or Manu throwing a bounce pass to a cutter between his defender's legs appears in my mind, I become consumed with joy. There's no way around it. Every memory that I have of Manu playing basketball makes me happy. The way he played the game was so joyous, even in the past-tense there is simply no room for sadness. Every season. Every game. Every moment bring a smile to my face. None so more than this:
I watched the aforementioned Manu Ginobii retirement ceremony from my hotel room at the Rome Cavalieri. I think there was something poetic and fitting about me getting to watch Number 20 go up into the AT&T Center rafters from Italy, the country Ginobili left (after playing two seasons's of professional basketball for Basket Viola Reggio Calabria) when he moved to San Antonio, Texas in 2002 to begin his NBA career. It was cool to celebrate the end of Manu's NBA journey from the place in which it began. I imagine Italy danced through Manu's mind more than a few times during that ceremony. When reflecting back upon a journey, it's only natural to think of its origin. The idea that Manu was peering back to Italy that night, peering back to the beginning, and I was able to experience Italy peering forward and back around the globe to reflect with him in San Antonio makes the notion of Manu's career cyclical and renders beginnings and ends obsolete. In other words, Manu's career is timeless and to be celebrated as a living, breathing fierce part of the present in perpetuity.
The game started at 1:30 am local time, so by the time the post-game retirement ceremony had concluded, it was almost time for the sun to rise over Rome. I figured Alba di Roma was something worth putting off a little extra sleep in order to experience so I decided to stay awake for it. I waited out on the terrace of my hotel room and watched as the colors slowly started rising from the silhouettes of the mountains behind the city. Out on that terrace, I watched the sun rise in all of its newness and spectacular beauty with my mind still on Manu and his career. I thought about the timelessness of Manu Ginobili the basketball player and how I will continue to experience his career body of work it in all of its newness and spectacular beauty for as long as I breathe (and probably beyond).Revisiting that terrace in Rome as I write these words todays brings me comfort and relieves me of the burden of feeling overwhelmed in writing this piece. I have forever to get my thoughts down on paper regarding Manu Ginboili's retirement and what his career meant to me and since all good things mustn't come to an end and the Spurs will continue making the playoffs forever, I'll have endless opportunities to revise these thoughts as part of the Black & Silver blog series. That being the case, let me end with this: #GraciasManu. It was an absolute privilege to watch you play basketball for my San Antonio Spurs de principio a fin.
* * *
Alotta the so-called experts predicted the #BlackAndSilver to miss the playoffs. They never learn. The irony? Even if the "experts' pooled their money, bought the team, got rid of the current roster and made themselves the replacements, so long as Coach Pop is still manning the bench, he would still drag them to the playoffs. As I'm putting the finishing touches on this, one of the most important Black & Silver posts to-date, the San Antonio Spurs are preparing for Game 1 of our first round matchup for the 2019 NBA Playoffs, our NBA record-tying 22nd consecutive appearance in the postseason. More on that tomorrow. For now, it's clear that a lot of things have changed in San Antonio since I wrote One Nirvana 355 days ago. A lot has changed but one thing remains the same. The San Antonio Spurs are in the playoffs and (broken clocks beware) are a threat to win the title. Much like the sunrise or the brilliance of Manu Ginobili's career, the sustained excellence of the San Antonio Spurs is eternal. We've merely experiencing a Black & Silver: Reincarnation. All good things mustn't come to an end. Reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated.
Video Source: NBA on YouTube
One Forward
2015 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 2
Ready or Not - Whew. Let me catch my breath. It's been almost 48 hours, but I'm still feeling the effects of all the nervous energy it took to watch the most entertaining game of the 2015 NBA Playoffs thus far. That was big. On the verge of falling into a disastrous 0-2 hole on Wednesday night in Los Angeles at the Staples Center, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs edged out the Los Angeles Clippers in overtime 111-107 in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round to tie the series at one game apiece. Clippers winning streak snapped. Home-court advantage snatched. Now that we've escaped, sleepwalkers awake. All of the pressure in this series has shifted to the third seeded Clippers and their superstar point guard who is desperately hoping to silence his critics by making the first deep playoff run of his 10 year NBA career. Chris Paul did all he could in Game 2. Blake Griffin, his sidekick, also played phenomenally once again save for one costly turnover in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter with a two point lead. That turnover allowed Patty Mills to streak down the court, get fouled, and sink two clutch free throws that tied the game, sending it into overtime, and gave new life to the Spurs in the process.Up 10 points after a spectacular Kawhi Leonard fade-away jumper with 6:41 left in the fourth quarter, San Antonio seemed poised to bully our way into a comfortable road playoff win. But a combination of Hack-A-Jordan, mindless Spurs turnovers, and going cold from the field at an inopportune time allowed L.A. to claw their way back into the game over the final few minutes and take the aforementioned two point lead. There was a terrible sinking feeling in my gut as we squandered away the lead that harkened back to some of the Spurs' playoff road meltdowns against the Shaq and Kobe Lakers in the early part of the previous decade. While the contest on Wednesday took place in that same building, this time we stayed the course, kept the faith, and persevered. Patty was spectacular. Playing heavy minutes to help fill a gaping hole caused by losing Tony Parker to an injury and compounded by losing Manu Ginobili on an uncharacteristically boneheaded choice to stop a fast break with a foul when he already had five at the 3:51 mark in the fourth quarter, Mills went 5-9 from the field and a potential season-saving 6-6 from the free throw line for 18 points.
The player of the game, however, was none other than Time's Father himself, Tim Duncan. Timmy just keeps adding to the legend, earning his 100th career post season double-double with 28 points (14-23) and 11 rebounds. He added 4 assists, two steals, and a block to boot. Duncan set the tone early which allowed the Spurs to play with a lead for most of the game. He also helped get San Antonio over the hump in OT with a vintage runner right in DeAndre Jordan's eye to put us up 101-98 with about three minutes left.Patty hit four more clutch free throws down the stretch in OT to seal the game. My heart was pounding on each one. This victory was huge for the #BlackAndSilver because now, if we can take care of business at home, we have the inside track to defeat the toughest first round opponent of the Gregg Popovich/Tim Duncan era. I'm looking forward to our first opportunity to defend our home court tonight back in the cozy confines of the AT&T Center. I'm getting ready to get in my zone and make sure we deliver. But before I do, one more thing. Yesterday, Kawhi Leonard was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year. While he seemed like a dark horse candidate given that he had missed 18 games due to injury, the honor is well-deserved because at this point there is absolutely no doubt. The man is the greatest defensive basketball player on the planet, hands down. If you don't think so, you're either fooling yourself or you're simply not watching. Congratulations, Whi. Spurs fans everywhere will be hoping you bring your defensive A game tonight. Against this talented opponent, we're going to need it.
Featured Image Source: Smash the Club
Headline Image Source: Sportal
Seven Right
2014 NBA Finals, Game 2
Starin' Through My Rear View - The Miami Heat lead the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals five to four after coming into the AT&T Center last night and stealing Game 2 of this year's series 98-96 in front of 18,581 properly cooled off Spurs fans. My fear coming into last night was that the Heat were capable of stealing Game 2 by forcing the Spurs into committing an uncharacteristic number of turnovers and then converting those into fast break points at the other end of the court. To my complete and utter shock, Miami indeed proved capable of stealing Game 2 but not through the formula that I believed to be their only path to victory. San Antonio only committed 11 turnovers last night which Miami converted into an uneventful five points. If I hadn't been allowed to watch the game and was only allowed to look at one statistic from the box score after the game to try to determine whether or not we had won, I would have looked at the Spurs' turnovers. The way that we have been playing at home this postseason, having seen those numbers, I would have assumed that we probably cruised to another double-digit victory at the AT&T Center. And, indeed, we were well on our way to doing just that for the first 14 minutes of the game. The Spurs were ahead of the Heat by 11 (30-19) when, for some inexplicable reason, Ray Allen was able to fake both Marco Belinelli and Boris Diaw into believing he was going to pass the ball to a cutter while standing at the three point line. Both Marco and Boris bit on the pump fake pass leaving Allen wide open behind the arc. Ray Allen drained the triple to cut the Spurs lead to eight and in doing so, completely shifted the momentum in the game. Miami finished the second quarter on a 24-13 run to tie the game at halftime and were able to get the best player in the world going in the process. During that run, LeBron James scored 11 points and established a rhythm in the game that would come back to haunt the Spurs in the second half.
In the third quarter, James gave San Antonio a flashback of the nightmares we had all of last summer by shooting the basketball like he did in Game 7 of last year's Finals; except this time he did it in our building. James shot 6-7 in the period (including a pair of three pointers) for 14 points. All of his baskets in the third came over the top of the defense from the perimeter. Yet despite LeBron taking over the game on the offensive end, the Spurs hung tight in the period and even took a one point lead into the final frame when Tony Parker hit a shot on our last possession to put us back ahead. The fourth quarter was back and fourth again as the Heat pretty much relied on James to create all of their offense by facilitating at the top of the key. LeBron was brilliant again scoring another eight points in the period and creating a wide-open three pointer for Chris Bosh to give Miami a two point lead with 1:17 left in the game. After Manu Ginobili committed the most costly of our 11 turnovers on the ensuing possession trying to force it into Tim Duncan on the post (to be fair, Manu was poked in the eye at the top of the key which should have been called a foul giving Manu two free throws), Kawhi Leonard fouled out of the game trying to defend LeBron's drive to the basket. James split the pair of free throws and then Manu missed a jumper from 19 feet. The Heat rebounded the ball, gave it to LeBron at the top of the key where he was able to create a hockey assist by passing to Bosh who then hit a cutting Dwyane Wade under the basket to take a five point lead with nine seconds left. After a timeout, the Spurs ran a decent play to get Boris Diaw a look at a three pointer but he decided to drive and kick when a Miami defender rushed towards him. He got the ball to Manu, who drained the triple, but the play took too long to develop and time expired.
While LeBron James put on a masterful 35 point, 10 rebound, 3 assits Game 2 performance that put his team in a position to win an NBA Finals game on the road, the San Antonio Spurs beat ourselves. To my surprise it wasn't turnovers that did us in last night. Instead, another nemesis of ours (that hadn't reared its ugly head in quite a while) made an unfortunate and untimely cameo in the 2014 NBA Finals: missed free throws. The Spurs went 12-20 from the charity stripe in Game 2 including a brutal possession in the guts of the game in which we went 0-4. With 6:43 remaining in the fourth quarter, Mario Chalmers was flagged with a flagrant foul when he hit Tony Parker in the chest with a vicious elbow underneath the Heat's basket as he tried to free himself from Tony off of his dribble penetration. This gave the Spurs two free throw attempts and possession of the basketball. Tony missed both and on the ensuing play, Chris Andersen fouled Tim Duncan for two more free throw attempts. Timmy also missed both. That wasted opportunity, ladies and gentleman, is the difference between being up 2-0 in the NBA Finals and now needing a victory in Miami in order to win the series. Despite the missed foul shots, Timmy was once again the player of the game putting up 18 points, 15 rebounds and tying Magic Johnson for the most double-doubles in NBA playoff history during the loss.
As heartbreaking of a defeat as last night's ball game was, I'm extremely confident that it was an anomaly rather than what is to be expected as we move further into this series. LeBron James played about as well as you could ask him to play and it still took a Spurs meltdown in the fourth quarter for Miami to secure the victory. Granted, there will be a smaller margin for error once we get back to the circus-like atmosphere of American Airlines Arena in Miami (and all of its pyrotechnic glory) but the Spurs are equipped for the challenge. If we figure out a way to make LeBron work a little bit harder to manufacture the Heat's offense and if we get back to our patented ball movement and rely on our deeper bench, we will put ourselves in a position to bounce right back from last night's disappointment. One man can always win a basketball game against any opponent, but the 2014 San Antonio Spurs are too good to be beaten in a series by any one player; even one as gifted as LeBron James. If the Heat offense continues to be as reliant on James as it was last night, the odds are that Miami will prove to be the team with the smaller margin for error moving forward in this series. Yesterday, was a tough day at the office. The #BlackAndSilver need to forget about it and simply focus on what's next. After all, we have been invited to host a passing clinic tomorrow evening down in the city of blinding lights which is providing us with an excellent opportunity to move one step closer to writing these San Antonio Spurs into the history books as one of basketball's finest teams.
* * *
City of Blinding Lights
The city took something from me, it took something from all of us.
Upon arriving on our maiden voyage, we battled masterfully.
We were not distracted by the shimmer, we were not intimidated by the lights.
We saw those gaudy displays of opulence as hubristic,
The last gasps of an overextended empire, bumptiously unaware of its vulnerability.
We know that the fall is coming.
It will happen, it just didn't happen then.
We had advanced swiftly but as we moved into position to trample the throne,
The city, intoxicated in its excess, found favor with the gods.
Through the ostentatious worship of its false idols,
It seduced a fleeting moment of commotion that neutralized our resolve
And fire reigned down from the heavens like spears on our heads.
Blinded, we left wounded and empty handed.
But now we will return to the city once again, with our vision restored.
We will arrive on this voyage wiser, bonded by the fellowship of our noble scars.
We are still not distracted by the shimmer, we are still not intimidated by the lights.
After rebuilding the strength of our core, we are more resolute in our preparedness to persevere.
The city, more overextended than ever, relies now almost completely on the strength of its king.
We know that the fall is coming.
It will happen, and we know that is has to happen now.
We have advanced again swiftly and moved back in position to trample the throne.
With the grace of a thousand stars we will embrace our chance at redemption
And working together we will use our wit to overwhelm the the city's aggressive defenses.
While the spoils of a prolonged period of decadence are the desire of most challengers,
We return not in pursuit of the city's abundance of treasure.
Just to rip the crown jewel from the king's bare hands.
Written June 2014 in San Antonio, Texas
Featured Image Source: Sporting News
Headline Image Source: ClipArt ETC
Three Left
2014 NBA Finals, Game 1
Revolution 1 - "You say you got a real solution, well you know, we'd all love to see..." the fan. "You ask me for a contribution, well you know, we're all doing what we can." It is true. The San Antonio Spurs had not paid the electric bill for the power used at the AT&T Center in almost a year. However, this is not a story about a sports franchise that is too broke to pay its bills. This is a story that is much more inspiring than that. This is a story about an NBA owner standing up on principle against one of the most sinister types of people that exists in our American democracy: the braggadocious, crass, smack talking Miami Heat fan. Let me explain. To put everything in context, I'll need to start with the NBA Finals Game 1 post game press conference; near the end of the story when San Antonio Spurs head coach and world renowned no-nonsense badass Gregg Popovich got involved by attempting to play peace-maker in a long running feud. Determined to help mediate a solution between Spurs Sports & Entertainment Chairman Peter Holt and CPS Energy President Doyle Beneby, late on Thursday night Coach Pop surmised, "Hopefully we can pay our bills." Rewind to the beginning and we discover that Holt has been suspicious of Beneby ever since the latter's arrival in San Antonio at CPS Energy in 2010. The reason for Holt's suspicion is that Beneby, who earned a masters degree at the University of Miami - School of Business in 1996, just so happens to be an unapologetic Miami Heat fan. Ever since The Decision, Beneby had been flaunting his love of LeBron James and the Heat to Holt every time that these two titans of industry crossed paths. To make matters worse, when Holt invited Beneby to a meeting to discuss San Antonio's energy future last summer (a few weeks after the 2013 NBA Finals), Beneby showed up for the meeting looking like this. When, during the meeting, Beneby made repeated references to the miracle working grace of Jesus Shuttlesworth's corner three point jumper, it was the final straw for Peter Holt. Since that day, he had vowed to never pay another dime to CPS Energy (regardless of how many bills he received for the power supplying the AT&T Center) until Beneby apologized.
Beneby never offered the desired apology so Holt began to rack up past due notices on his CPS Energy bill month after month. Even though CPS Energy has an outstanding reputation for giving its customers ample time to catch up on payments before cutting their power, Beneby had grown increasing leery of Holt's astronomical past due balance (which as of his June statement) had reached $3,274,895.65. The AT&T Center is a large building to power and Holt had not paid a bill since last July. Although Beneby would have been within his right to pull the plug on the AT&T Center power months ago, he decided to bide his time and wait for a great opportunity to do it when he could really embarrass Holt. On Thursday afternoon, Beneby knew he had just that type of opportunity and took action against Holt by cutting off the power supply for the AT&T Center's cooling system. Rather than cutting power to the entire building, Beneby thought he could stick it to Holt even more by just cutting the power supply to the air conditioning system so as to embarrass him on the biggest possible stage, the NBA Finals. By just cutting power to the AC supply, Beneby cunningly predicted that the NBA would not cancel the event (which they would obviously be forced to do if the entire building was without power). Cutting only the AC supply, therefore, allowed Beneby to pursue the objective of embarrassing Holt in front of a global audience. Ironically for the CPS Energy President, as it turns out, he did not think his sinister plan all the way through because the person most affected by the lack of air conditioning in the building on Thursday night was Beneby's beloved LeBron James. With James sidelined for the final four minutes due to heat exhaustion and muscle cramping, the San Antonio Spurs pulled away from the Miami Heat to take Game 1 of the NBA Finals 110-95. Having gotten the last laugh in the feud with Beneby (for now) and because he always makes it a point to heed the advice of Gregg Popovich (his most valued confidant), after the game Peter Holt found some spare change in his sofa cushions and paid his three and a quarter million dollar past due balance with CPS Energy. He also made a sizable donation to REAP. Now that his bill is current; CPS Energy has restored the electricity powering the air conditioning unit at the AT&T Center. theLeftAhead has reached out to Doyle Beneby for comment on his decision to cut AC power at the AT&T Center, but like any typical braggadocious, crass, smack talking Miami Heat fan, he was no where to be found and was not heard from after the loss. TMZ is reporting, however, that he has been spotted outside of LeBron James' hotel room apologizing profusely and offering James a CPS Energy tote bag along with flowers and candy as an apology for his blunder.
* * *
All kidding aside, Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals produced an amazing story about heat for the basketball public to digest. Unfortunately, it is not the story about heat that is currently dominating the news. If you love basketball and haven't been living under a rock these past couple of days, you are already well aware that Game 1 is being dubbed The Cramp Game and most of the analyses in its aftermath is being focused on LeBron James. Is it unfortunate that the air conditioning was broken and that the temperature in the building reached 90 degrees during the game? Yes, it is unfortunate. But what is getting lost in all of the hysteria surrounding the incident that made #LeBronning go viral Thursday night is who the real victims were of the unfortunate conditions. The players surely weren't the real victims. They all played in the same conditions therefore the heat was not unfortunate for either team. The lack of air conditioning did not give one team an advantage over the other. As many of the players noted during postgame interviews, if you want to make it all the way to the NBA then at some point during your basketball development you are probably going to have to learn to play the game in heat. The lack of AC in the building did not cause LeBron's body to shut down. It is something in his genetic makeup that predisposes him to this recurring problem that is to blame for him being the only player in the game that was not able to finish. Sure, you could argue that San Antonio benefited indirectly from the heat in the building because we are a deeper team than Miami. But our depth in the series is an advantage that we have regardless of the playing conditions. Also, winning an NBA Championship is supposed to be hard and requires having the ability to overcome adversity in the NBA Finals (however it presents itself). Miami has proven to have that ability for the past two seasons in a row (they lost Game 1 of the Finals both times and came back to win the series). Game 1 is just one game. They are more than capable of overcoming adversity and a 0-1 series deficit again. No one should be feeling sorry for LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Having key players affected by injuries and ailments is part of basketball. The lack of air conditioning in the building was not unfortunate for the Miami Heat. On this particular night, they just got beat.
The people that the lack of AC was actually unfortunate for were the Spurs fans attending the game at the AT&T Center. NBA Finals tickets are obnoxiously expensive and many basketball fans dream of the opportunity to attend an NBA Finals game. For some die-hard fans of modest means this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I know that I enjoyed every second of the NBA Finals game that I attended (Game 1 of the 2003 NBA Finals) because I knew that I might never get a chance to have that experience again. The uncomfortable temperature in the building was unfortunate for Spurs fans, especially the ones who were fulfilling a dream to attend their first and possibly only NBA Finals game, because they had to spend what should have been a magical evening in prolonged discomfort. These fans in particular, who had been waiting a lifetime for this opportunity, are the unfortunate victims of the malfunctioning AT&T Center air conditioning system. I contemplated purchasing tickets for Game 1 when they went on sale on Tuesday, but decided against spending the money. In retrospect, I'm glad that I watched the happenings at the AT&T Center from the comfort of my temperature controlled living room.
But, of course, the media has spent the past couple of days fixated on how the heat affected the Heat. This is disappointing because they are depriving themselves and their audience of an opportunity to celebrate an actual amazing story about heat in Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals. What the media should be covering is he hottest thing that was in the building on Thursday night: the fourth quarter offensive attack of the San Antonio Spurs. Over the course of the final quarter of play in Game 1, the San Antonio Spurs took a positive step towards Revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected. The Spurs put on a masterful performance in the fourth, outscoring the Heat 37-16 in the period while overcoming a four point deficit entering the final frame. San Antonio overpowered Miami with our ball movement and precision shooting to blitz the Heat with 14-16 from the field in the period and an astounding 12 of the made baskets coming off of an assist. When it was all said and done, we had blown open the four point deficit that we were facing with six minutes left in the game into another comfortable 15 point home victory. How did this happen? It seems that Miami has a short memory because for some reason they forgot that Danny Green loves animals and Danny Green gets buckets. In the course of three minutes of play, Danny turned a terrible performance through the first three quarters and a half quarter around by erupting for 11 points off of three triples and one vicious dunk. As spectacular as Danny's performance was in the final six minutes, it was not enough to put him into the running for player of the game honors. Here are some other Spurs players lines from Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals: Boris Diaw (2 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists), Tiago Splitter (14 points, 4 rebounds), Tony Parker (19 points, 8 assists), and Manu Ginobili (16 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block). This was a complete team effort with each of these players worthy of player of the game honors but none of them were able to quite outshine the indelible Tim Duncan, aka Time's Father. Timmy led the Spurs with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists and he is now just one double double away from tying Magic Johnson for the most in NBA playoff history. At age 38, his performance the other night was simply stated: spectacular.
While San Antonio had a vintage performance in Game 1 that seemed reminiscent of the old Boston Celtics teams, in both the way we shared the basketball and also in that playing a game without the air conditioning was a notorious Red Auerbach trick (enter conspiracy theorists stage left), we cannot let our guard down for even a split second. Miami is the two-time defending World Champions and, as stated earlier, they have lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals two years in a row and stormed back to win the series. Last year, we were in an even greater position than we are now after the first game considering that we stole that one on the road. We all know how that series turned out for us. The good news is that there is plenty for us to concentrate on in order to keep our focus. In fact, there is one blatant aspect of our Game 1 performance that we must improve upon drastically in order for us to have any hope of winning Game 2. We committed 22 turnovers in Game 1 which is like playing with a hornets nest against the Miami Heat; we were just asking to be stung. San Antonio is extremely fortunate that Miami was unable to capitalize on our turnovers (most of which occurred in the first three quarters) to blow us out of our own gym before our fourth quarter blitz was even able to develop. If we give LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and company another crack at that many turnovers, they will certainly make us pay. On each and every possession of the game tomorrow night, if I were a Spurs player, I would be looking left, looking right, and starin' through my rear view before attempting each and every pass. I know that the ball has got to zip around the perimeter in order to capitalize on our precision offensive attack, but protecting the basketball against the Miami Heat is just as important. Their defense is built upon creating turnovers. If we do not turn the ball over, it will be extremely difficult for them to beat us, especially at home. We are the superior half court defensive team, we are the superior offensive team, and we are the deeper team. If the #BlackAndSilver protect the basketball tomorrow night like it is our essence then we can take another step towards Revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected and our offense will remain the hottest thing in the AT&T Center.
Featured Image Source: Rolling Stone
Headline Image Source: SA Express-News
*The Peter Holt and Doyle Beneby depicted in this blog post are fictional.
Four Left
2014 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 6
Here Now - It was a devastating way to lose the NBA Finals. When you're up three games to two and you have a lead on the road in the last minute of the fourth quarter of Game 6, you have the trophy so close within reach that you can almost scape a fingernail on it. Even though no lead is ever safe in the NBA, the reason why you start sensing that you're closing in on the title is because if you're good enough to be in that position in the first place, it means that you're also good enough to make the right decisions, execute effectively, protect the lead, and closeout the game. By the time that you've gotten around to having a lead in the last minute of Game 6 of the NBA Finals, you've not only been through all of the possible late game scenarios over the course of a hundred game season, but you've established a proven track record that you can make the plays necessary to finish. In other words, a team that is good enough to make the NBA Finals is good enough to protect a lead during the last minute of a ball game nine times out of ten; perhaps even ninety five times out of a hundred. That is why it is so devastating when this happens. The question is, when you are that close and everything caves in around you, how do you respond? Do you grab on to a helping hand and live to fight another day or does your proximity to realizing your dream allow you to become so overcome with the moment that you plummet into the abyss?
Most teams would plummet into the abyss. You would more than likely be resigned to show up and get blown out in Game 7 after losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals on the road in devastating fashion. It is human nature if you are a player on a team in that situation to hang your head and feel sorry for yourself after squandering a golden opportunity to achieve your goal. Once that focus is broken and replaced by regret, it is an astronomical challenge to have the fortitude to prepare properly to turn around and bring the same energy and execution to match a team that is full of new life after enjoying some clutch plays but also a few breaks and perhaps a little luck to narrowly escape elimination. You see, the problem in this particular scenario is that your opponent has also proven over the course of a hundred game season to be good enough to be playing in the NBA Finals and now they have proven that they are also good enough to find life in the face of imminent death. All losses being equal and as the road team, you are probably better off in your pursuit of the ultimate goal of winning the title if you get blown out in Game 6 than you are losing in heartbreaking fashion when you should have won. You can chalk up a blowout defeat on the road to just having a bad night and then try to come back with better focus and energy in Game 7. If, however, you blow the lead in the last minute of Game 6, all you have is "what ifs" torturing and distracting you like an uninterrupted nightmare during the days leading up to Game 7. You've let your best opportunity slip through your fingers and the worst part is that your opponent also knows this. Considering that this Finals series is being played in the (now defunct) 2-3-2 format, regardless of whether the circumstances that led to your Game 6 demise were you choking or your opponent coming through in the clutch (or a combination of both), that other team is patiently sitting at home counting their blessings, enjoying life, and getting ready to wipe the floor with you in Game 7. As a team that is carrying all of the baggage of just having blown your shot to close out the NBA Finals on the road in Game 6, you are expected by everyone to "fold like a cheap hooker who got hit in the stomach by a fat guy with sores on his face" in Game 7.
Indeed, most teams facing those circumstances would be toast. The 1988 Detroit Pistons, however, were a team that refused to fold after coughing up Game 6 of the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers 103-102 at the Great Western Forum in LA. Game 6 was not only a devastating loss for the Pistons but it was one of the most heartbreaking beats in modern professional sports. Detroit led Los Angeles 3-2 in the series and 102 to 99 in the final minute of the game before Byron Scott scored with 45 seconds left to cut the Piston lead to two. On the ensuing possession, Isiah Thomas missed a a baseline jumper which set up one of the most infamous plays in NBA Finals history. With 14 seconds left in the game and Detroit still leading by one, Bill Laimbeer was guarding Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as he attempted his signature skyhook shot. Kareem missed and Dennis Rodman was in position to collect the rebound and more than likely the Pistons' first championship trophy. The problem was that one of the officials had the audacity to call a foul on the shot attempt. There was minimal contact on the play (especially by late 80's standards) and this series altering call has gone down in infamy in Detroit lore as the "phantom foul." Kareem sunk both free throws to give LA the lead. On the Pistons next possession, Joe Dumars missed badly on a desperate attempt. Byron Scott collected the rebound and was fouled immediately. Although he missed both free throws, the Pistons were out of timeouts and were forced to attempt a half court shot at the buzzer.
After being so close to winning the title just to have the game taken away by a ridiculous foul call, it was hard to imagine that Detroit would be able to regroup and compete in Game 7. Everyone assumed that the Pistons would get slaughtered by Magic Johnson and the "Showtime" Lakers. Against all odds and to almost everyone's surprise, this did not happen. It turned out that the 1988 Detroit Pistons were a special basketball team. Somehow, they found the mental strength and inner fortitude to compete in Game 7 in Los Angeles until the bitter end. Down four points with six seconds left, Bill Laimbeer drained a 28 foot three pointer to cut the Laker lead to one point. Detroit went for the steal which allowed LA to advance the ball to A.C. Green who was wide open for a layup with two seconds left. As Laimbeer looked to inbound the ball so the Pistons could attempt a game tying three pointer, it became quickly apparent that the Pistons not only faced the five Laker players in the game on their final attempt but also the defense of the Laker bench as well as several dozen Lakers fans who were already storming the court. It seems mind-boggling today, but the referees made no attempt to clear the court and allow Detroit a fair opportunity to tie the game. Laimbeer, given no other option, threw the ball to the front court to Isaiah Thomas who was promptly knocked down by Magic Johnson. Shockingly, no foul was called and the game ended. Lakers 108 - Pistons 105.
* * *
After surrendering a lead in the last minute of the fourth quarter and eventually losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals on the road, it was hard to imagine that San Antonio would be able to regroup and compete in Game 7. Everyone assumed that the Spurs would get slaughtered by LeBron James and "The Heatles." Against all odds and to almost everyone's surprise, this did not happen. It turned out that the 2013 San Antonio Spurs were a special basketball team. Somehow they found the mental strength and inner fortitude to compete in Game 7 in Miami until the bitter end. Kawhi Leonard hit a three point shot with just over one minute left in the game to cut a five point Heat lead to two, 90-88. After Shane Battier missed a three point attempt, Manu Ginobili secured the rebound with exactly one minute left on the clock and the Spurs advanced the ball with an opportunity to tie or take the lead. San Antonio worked the ball in to Tim Duncan in the post. Noticing that he had the smaller Battier defending him, Timmy drove immediately towards the middle of the paint to attempt a point blank jump hook; a shot that he had made hundreds if not thousands of times before in his career. He shot it long off of the back rim but immediately responded by attempting to tip it back up and in (something he has also done hundreds of times in his career). The tip attempt failed and Chris Bosh secured the rebound. With 28 seconds left in the game and clinging to a two point lead, LeBron James drained a clutch 17 foot jump shot to put Miami up four. After Manu Ginboli missed a three pointer on the ensuing possession, the Heat closed out the game by hitting three out of four free throws. Heat 95 - Spurs 88.
The thing about special basketball teams who have the fortitude to compete on the road in Game 7 of the NBA Finals after being less than a minute away from winning a championship in Game 6 is that they have a demonstrated ability to regroup. Sometimes 48 hours just isn't quite enough time to come all the way back from something so heartbreaking... but a year certainly is. After experiencing that and still having the fortitude to comeback and claim the best regular season record in the NBA the next season (1988-89 Detroit Pistons: league best record of 63-19, 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs: league best record 62-20), no amount of playoff adversity can seem to derail you from your quest for redemption. Last Saturday night, the San Antonio Spurs trotted out for the second half of Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals in Chesapeake Energy Arena (a building in which we had lost 9 straight times) trailing by 7 and with Cory Joseph in the game at the point guard position. It became quickly apparent that Tony Parker, our leading scorer, was out of the game due to injury. The TNT broadcasting team subsequently reported that Tony would not return. Despite this unfortunate turn of events, San Antonio (with Cory as our floor general) put together one of our most dominant quarters of the postseason. The Spurs outscored the Oklahoma City Thunder 37-20 in the period by picking the OKC defense apart with the type of precision ball movement that has been the team's trademark this season. Up ten points on the road with an opportunity to close out the Thunder heading into the fourth quarter, it seemed inevitable that league MVP Kevin Durant and his sidekick Russell Westbrook would make a run to save their season. Sure enough, they did exactly that. Oklahoma City kept chipping away at our lead throughout the fourth quarter and finally, with 32 seconds left in the period, Durant made a driving layup to give the Thunder a 99-97 lead. A year is a long time to think about redemption. On the ensuing possession, Manu Ginobili (who had missed a crucial three pointer in the last minute of Game 7 of last year's NBA Finals) came free off of a Tim Duncan pick and just buried the go-ahead three point dagger with 27 seconds left. Even still, after Kevin Durant turned the ball over and Manu split a pair of free throws, Russell Westbrook re-tied the game 101-101 by making a pair of free throws. Manu got a clean look at the buzzer to win the game, but back rimmed it.The two Western Conference heavy weights traded punches for most of the overtime period until Tim Duncan found himself in the low post with a smaller defender on him clinging to a one point lead (108-107) with less than 30 seconds left in the overtime period. A year is a long time to think about redemption. Timmy (who had missed his jump hook in the last minute of Game 7 of last year's NBA Finals with the smaller Shane Battier on him) noticing he had the much smaller Reggie Jackson on him turned to his left into a leaning jump hook with Russell Westbrook closing frantically to double team and rattled it home to earn player of the game honors. Trailing by three, Kevin Durant missed a good look at a three pointer to re-tie the game and Boris Diaw (who had a monster night with 26 points) made two out of four free throws down the stretch to secure the victory and send the #BlackAndSilver back to the NBA Finals. Spurs 112 - Thunder 107. A year is a long time to think about redemption.
* * *
I was hanging out in the studio the weekend that Brian and Eric recorded this song in 2005. I remember that the three of us, along with our friend Matt, went to a Spurs game that Saturday night to break up the grind of a marathon recording session. I couldn't even tell you anymore who we played on that particular night, I just know that ever since then I have associated this song with Spurs playoff runs and I guess that is the reason. After Saturday night's epic closeout victory, I blasted this song on my living room stereo and basked at what the Spurs had just accomplished while also thinking about my best friend. Indeed, we are here now with the opportunity to secure ultimate redemption for our devastating Game 6 defeat to the Miami Heat in last year's NBA Finals. This is the first rematch in the Finals since Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls defeated Karl Malone's Utah Jazz in both 1997 and 1998. The time before that? That was 25 years ago in 1989 when the Detroit Pistons were able to regroup and overcome any and all playoff adversity on their quest for redemption to set up their opportunity for a rematch with the Los Angeles Lakers. In Game 7 of last year's Finals, I witnessed the same heart in the San Antonio Spurs that I remember witnessing from the 1988 Detroit Pistons in their Game 7 against the Lakers. The '88 Pistons weren't on my mind, necessarily, when I sent out my tweet immediately following San Antonio coming up just short in Game 7 last year but the rare inner fortitude that both team's shared was and that was what gave me the confidence a bold prediction and the faith that we would be exactly where we are tonight; on the eve of our opportunity to finish off some overdue business. A year is a long time to think about redemption. Tomorrow night, the San Antonio Spurs will embark on revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected. There is something cyclical about this beautiful game that we call basketball. I've had this feeling for a while now that the 1988-1989 Detroit Pistons and the 2013-2014 San Antonio Spurs are kindred spirits. How did the '89 Pistons fare in reaching their ultimate goal of redemption? They swept the Los Angeles Lakers out of the 1989 NBA Finals four games to zero. I'm just saying.
Headline Image Source: ESPN
Five Left
2014 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 5
C.R.E.A.M. - Championships rule everything around me, C.R.E.A.M., get the trophy. Baller, baller skill y'all. For the seventh consecutive home playoff game, the San Antonio Spurs blew out our opponent last night defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 117-89 at the AT&T Center to take a 3-2 lead in the 2014 Western Conference Finals. In a surprising tactical adjustment, Coach Pop started Matt Bonner instead of Tiago Splitter in order to stretch the court and pull Serge Ibaka away from the basket. While Bonner struggled from the field (0-4 for the game), the adjustment seemed to make a difference as Serge Ibaka's defensive presence was less disruptive (2 blocks in 27 minutes) and didn't lead to back-breaking Oklahoma City fast breaks. Also, Bonner's defense seemed to have an effect on Ibaka's shot, as well (Ibaka missed his first 5 shots with Bonner guarding him and finished the game 3-10). After a tense first quarter (the game was tied 32-32 after one) in which OKC came out looking poised to repeat Game 5 of the 2012 WCF and seemed to be carrying a great deal of confidence from having the Ibaka "Serge" momentum in the series, the Spurs calmly and systematically started imposing our will in the second quarter by moving the ball on offense and hustling on defense to build a 10 point half time lead. The flood gates opened in the second half as San Antonio put together a dominant performance on both sides of the basketball outscoring Oklahoma City 52-34 in the third and fourth quarter combined. The Spurs dominated every facet of the game last night out-rebounding OKC 48-35 and out-shooting them 51.3 percent to 43.2 percent. We more than doubled them up from behind the arc, as well, going 13-26 (50%) from downtown to their 6-24 (25%). Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were held to a manageable combined total of 46 points.
While the Spurs got big-time contributions across-the-board, Manu Ginobili's stood out as he had a memorable throwback performance scoring 19 points in 21 minutes on 7-9 shooting (3-4 from distance) with 6 assists and 4 rebounds. He even, albeit accidentally, bitch slapped the 2014 NBA MVP while going for a steal late in the third quarter. Not to be outdone in the "Throwback Thursday" department, Tim Duncan snatched player of the game honors away from Manu because he also had a vintage performance scoring 22 points on 8-13 shooting while hauling in 12 rebounds and adding one of the most emphatic blocks in recent memory against the no longer in our heads (thanks Cory Joseph) Serge Ibaka. While there was most definitely palpable tension in the air throughout the city of San Antonio over the last couple of days after our disappointing performances in Oklahoma City earlier in this week, the Spurs answered the call at home once again to put Spurs fans minds at ease. Although the circumstances of coming home with the series tied 2-2, in and of themselves, didn't necessarily warrant the panic Spurs fans were experiencing, it was the demons of the 2012 Western Conference Finals that caused a "here we go again" overreaction from late Tuesday night until the tip-off of Game 5. But last night those demons were fully exorcised as the Spurs proved that the Oklahoma City Thunder are still miles away from competing at a level that would allow them to win the game that they need in San Antonio in order to advance to the NBA Finals.
Now that Serge Ibaka has come back down to earth from the Hakeem Olajuwon perch he had played on in Oklahoma City after returning from vacation (err...I mean injury), the Spurs must capitalize on this opportunity to end this series in Oklahoma City and punch our ticket to the 2014 NBA Finals. San Antonio has lost 9 games in a row to the Thunder in that building. We are too good of a basketball team to lose to any team 10 times in a row in any building. We are due for a victory in the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Tomorrow night, I want to see that "the Starburys taste like Starburys" incarcerating 2003 on the road at American West Arena in Phoenix 87-85 swagger. You know what I'm talking about, right? I'm talking about that 2003 dynasty crushing, "Shaq and Kobe as a tandem" derailing, "Zen Master heart attack" inducing on the road at Staples Center in Los Angeles 110-82 "step on the champs' throats" swag. I mean, I want to see that "Dirk and Nash 'best buds'" separating, "dust off Steve Kerr to twist three point daggers into Mark Cuban's heart" executing 2003 on the road at American Airlines Center in Dallas 90-78 precision chutzpah. Am I making myself clear? I'm looking to see that "Jesus Shuttlesworth was only good enough to win rings as a third or fourth wheel" proving, "come and steal the SuperSonics and Kevin Durant away from Seattle" opportunity creating, "how did I not remember that Antonio Daniels played for the Sonics that year" memory questioning 2005 on the road at KeyArena in Seattle 98-96 swagalicious boisterousness. I know you're digging where I'm going with this, right? I know you know what I'm talking about right here. The San Antonio Spurs have gone on the road in Game 6 of a best of seven series four times and closed out an opponent en route to the NBA Championship. It only seems fitting that we should do it for the fifth time in pursuit of our fifth ring. We have finally put the "Serge Ibaka is in our heads" nonsense to rest (not only did we put it to rest, but we crammed so much Nyquil down its throat that it is practically in a coma) and we are overdue for a W in Oklahoma City. If the #BlackAndSilver play our game tomorrow evening in Chesapeake Energy Arena, no amount of athleticism on the other side of the ball can beat us. We are the better team. We here now. Let's get this done.
Featured Image Source: Ruth Gwily Illustrations
Headline Image Source: Concord Monitor
Seven Left
2014 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 1
Around the Block - Legend has it that there is a gunslinger who resides out west with a draw that is so fast that it defies the physical laws of time and space. They say that he is so quick that he can do what takes the fastest of shooters almost a second to do (namely catch, TURN, and shoot) in just a fraction of that time. Yes, rumor has it that this man is so speedy that he stopped training with Usain Bolt during his off-season in the summer because he was tired of being held up. This gunslinger, who spent the better part of the last decade searching for precious metals out in California, is so freaking speed of light shattering velocious that he has already had the iPhone 6 for a month but has decided to stop using it because he finds its processing speed too cumbersome to keep up with the Tianhe-2 velocity that his fingers type text message responses like "No Kobe, I still think you're better than Kevin" or "Hey Phil, I'm sorry but it's over...It's not you, it's me." By around 2011, people were starting to think that tales of this mythical gunslinger might just be made-up fables that parents in Los Angeles have their nannies tell their children as bedtime stories at night while they are out on the town networking to land their next reality television audition. But then a couple of years ago, as if out of nowhere, Derick Fisher turned up down in Oklahoma. Apparently, Kobe Bryant's coattails had just become so worn and tattered that he thought he might give Kevin Durant's a try. Last night, 'Point Four' Fisher returned to Texas and the AT&T Center, the scene of his most infamous robbery, to once again face the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference playoffs.
The old gunslinger came out firing in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, scoring 16 points on 4-6 shooting (all three point attempts) and helped keep his Oklahoma City Thunder within striking distance during the first half of a game that could have very easily gotten away from them early. Fisher, seemingly was the only player that was able to remain calm and help Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook attempt to deal with the dangerous proposition that the Spurs are coming. The grizzled veteran was OKC's third leading scorer on the night but, in the end, it was an exercise in futility as the Spurs indeed were coming and coming in waves. Tim Duncan, on his way to player of the game honors, led 5 Spurs players in double figures with 27 points on 11-19 shooting and was able to score at will in the paint in the absence of Serge Ibaka. As a team, San Antonio shot 31-43 down in the interior (72.1 percent) for 62 points in the paint. While league MVP, Kevin Durant, and his all-star teammate, Russel Westbrook, played well in stretches, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs' perimeter defense to contain the electric duo to a manageable 53 points on 19-40 shooting. Oh, Kawhi also did this last night.
Considering that OKC's superstars received next to no help on the offensive end, other than Fisher and Reggie Jackson (who chipped in 13 points), they were hard-pressed to have a realistic chance to keep pace with the Spurs offense (and the easy shots it was creating) for 48 minutes. The Thunder were forced to experiment with unconventional lineups and were never able to get into a sustained offensive rhythm as a team. In the end, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 122-105 last night to strike first in the 2014 Western Conference Finals. While the victory seemed to come almost as easily as we have been generating wins since Game 7 of the series with the Mavericks, Spurs fans should continue to remain cautiously optimistic. As long as Durant and Westbrook are on the court, no lead in a game or in the series is ever secure and we need to continue to bring the same focused teamwork tomorrow night for Game 2 that we had last night in order to beat them again. And even if we are able to win tomorrow and protect home court advantage, the KD led Oklahoma City Thunder are one of only two teams that have forced the Spurs to surrender a 2-0 advantage in a seven game series during the Tim Duncan era (2012 Western Conference Finals). The 2004 Los Angeles Lakers were the other team to force the Spurs to blow a 2-0 series lead and Derick Fisher was one of the biggest contributors to that comeback series win. While I will go to my grave believing that if it is impossible to catch and shoot in three tenths of a second, then it must also be impossible to catch, TURN, and shoot in four tenths of a second, the Spurs have plenty to be focused on in the here and now. The Oklahoma City Thunder, even without Ibaka, are one of the most dangerous opponents that the Spurs have faced in recent playoff runs and we must be locked in for 48 minutes in order to beat them. The old gunslinger, Derick Fisher, will be trying to round up a posse that can keep the game close tomorrow night and put him in the position to have a shot to rob the AT&T Center blind one last time. But as long as the #BlackAndSilver play as a team and look out for each other by keeping our eyes on the fastest draw in the west from all along the watchtower, San Antonio will put ourselves in a position to show Oklahoma City how insurmountable a 2-0 series lead might be in 2014.
Six Up
2013 NBA Finals Game 7
Shake It Out - Intellectually, I understand the merits of the worldview that argues that it is irrational for me, as a spectator, to get emotionally invested in the outcome of a sporting event when it does not have a direct impact on my own life. I understand the rationale behind treating sports as escapism, as a distraction from the rigors of everyday life, and to enjoy the injunction from personal stress that rooting for a favorite team provides but to do so while remembering that what I am participating in is just a game and should not hold relevance to my personal happiness because it exists tangentially to the circumstances of my life and the societal forces which are influencing it. After all, my desired outcome for the 2013 NBA Finals would not have lessened the remaining balance on my home's mortgage nor would it have accelerated the recovery of the San Antonio housing market from the 2008 collapse that occurred within six months of my wife and me purchasing our first home; a collapse that has subsequently caused us to spend the duration of our marriage digging out of the financial hole that we were left to manage given that our home was rendered chronically underwater and we've been too responsible to walk away but also too financially limited to maneuver our way out of the unfortunate bad luck of investing in the housing market at literally the worst possible time in the last 50 years. My desired outcome for the 2013 NBA Finals would not have increased the size or scope of the across-the-board pay raise that was recently fought for and won by the members of Texas State Employees Union, a group of people that I am privileged to work closely with every day, in an effort to force the Texas legislature to address a systemic problem, front-line state employee salaries in Texas have lagged dangerously behind inflation for decades which has severely eroded their buying power in relation to the cost of living; a problem that the power brokers in Texas would have been more than happy to ignore completely, this past legislative session, if they had been left to their own devices. My desired outcome for the 2013 NBA Finals would not have repaired strained relationships in my personal life, it would not have afforded me more free time to devote to completing the manuscript for my first book, and it would not have provided the clarity for my wife and me to definitively answer an on-going question, "when in the journey towards establishing our careers is the best time to start our family?" [Note: any comments in response to this post which attempt to compare us to the characters Carol and Trevor from the movie Idiocracy, no matter how humorous and well intentioned, will not be received favorably since poor Trevor dies childless as a result of a tragically embarrassing episode]. Yet despite all of the merits of the worldview I have just described, a worldview that carefully places one's spectator sporting allegiances on the peripheral of the forces being exerted upon one's pursuit of personal happiness, as a die-hard Spurs fan, I have no choice but to unequivocally reject it. Despite my attempts to intellectually rationalize to myself the worldview that basketball is just a game, that the successes and failures of my favorite team are inconsequential to the forces which are creating the tapestry of my personal happiness, it has been more than a month since the completion of the 2013 NBA Finals and I remain utterly heartbroken that the Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 in Game 7 on June 20th.Perhaps the reason for this is that the intellectual worldview is inherently incapable of accounting for an indispensable variable factoring into the experience of a die-hard sports fan such a myself. That is, the rooting interest has developed organically out of deeply personal experiences and in care of immeasurably valued relationships over an extended period of time. For a die-hard sports fan, each opportunity to root for the favorite team does not occur independently in a vacuum, but rather occurs on the top of a mountain of memories and experiences that have not only contributed to a lifetime of both happy and sad moments but also have played a significant role in determining the trajectory of the individual's life and consequently, have indeed made a substantial contribution to personal happiness. In other words, for a die-hard sports fan, the obsessive participation in spectator sports is an outward projection of meaningful experiences and relationships which cut to the core of the fan's sense of self. When a significant collection of memories that help piece together one's understanding of the experiences and relationships that bring meaning to life are stitched together through the common thread of a sporting interest, one's allegiance to the success of that sporting interest naturally becomes very central to one's sense of self. This mountain of memories collected in pursuit of cheering for one's favorite team are valuable not only in there relevance to organizing the team's successes and failures in ones' mind, but more importantly they are important as bookmarks of one's own personal experiences and vessels for cherishing one's most meaningful relationships. Where is it that we begin to formulate our sense of self and our conditions for happiness if not through our own memories?
My Uncle Bob took my brother, Chris, and me to see the Spurs play Larry Bird and the Celtics at the old Hemisfair Arena for our first NBA game. From around 1994 to 2005, I went to see the Spurs play the Pistons in San Antonio with my father almost every single year. One year, the Pistons beat the Spurs at the buzzer and I'm pretty sure Dad was the only person in our entire section that was cheering. While on a college visit to Trinity University with my mom in 1996, we went to a Spurs game while in town and I decided that night to apply for early admission. I was at Tim Duncan's first home game as a rookie in 1997 at the Alamodome with my friend, Yousif. When the Spurs used to practice at Trinity, I was playing pick-up basketball on the outdoor courts when David Robinson was walking to his car one day. You better believe, I dribbled right up to him and crossed him over, he couldn't stop chuckling all the way to his car. I was at the first game that Tony Parker started in his career in 2001. I was in building at the AT&T Center when Tim Duncan received his 2nd NBA MVP trophy, the Spurs beat the Shaq and Kobe Lakers that night. My friend, Brian, and I were at Game 1 of the 2003 NBA Finals. I watched Game 2 of the 2005 NBA Finals between the Spurs and the Pistons with my dad in Georgetown, TX. I watched the Spurs play the Pistons with Dad in Georgetown again that fall, our last game. My wife, Jenn, has continued the tradition with me, we still try to go to see the Spurs play the Pistons every year. I was at my brother's bachelor party when the Spurs won their first title in 1999. I was out with my sister, Heather, and Brian in San Antonio when they won in 2003. We did the celebratory drive down Military. I watched Game 7 of the Finals alone in my Dallas apartment when the Spurs beat the Pistons in 2005, I can only describe it as bitter sweet. I watched the Spurs win in 2007 in Dallas with Jenn as we were literally packing our things to move to San Antonio.
These memories and the experiences and relationships that are represented within them are catalogued then preserved carefully and done so in close proximity to the core of who I am as a person. In my own weird way, because the San Antonio Spurs are so intrinsically woven into my entire life experience, I internalize the success of the team as barometer of my sense of self and a validation of the people and memories that I hold dear. Admittedly irrational, each victory and defeat is a deeply personal experience despite the fact that my role as a spectator is marginal and removed from directly impacting the results. Is this healthy? Perhaps not, but this deep personal connection and investment in the team is, indeed, one that I hold for better or for worse.In Five Up, I wrote about the cruelty of "having the trophy so close within reach we could almost scrape a finger nail on it." Obviously, this was written before Game 7, when I was still filled with hope that the Spurs would bounce back to ultimately win the title anyway. In hindsight, after witnessing Miami edge out San Antonio in the fourth quarter of the decisive game, while I remain pleased with the way that I constructed that sentence as a writer, I am personally haunted by the excruciating imagery of my own prose. Reliving that dreadful Tuesday evening at the AT&T Center has proven to be utter torture. The incomprehensible sequence of events that led to our Game 6 defeat played over and over in my mind for days after Game 7. The nightmare still pops into my head, as if from out of no where, at any random moment to prompt a queasy sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. 28 seconds to go in Game 6, the Spurs were ahead by 5 points and closing in on the 5th championship in franchise history. Over the course of the last 28 seconds, 5 basketball plays occurred that adversely affected the Spurs. Miami secured an offensive rebound off of a missed shot, LeBron James buried a three pointer, Kawhi Leonard missed a free throw, Miami secured an offensive rebound off of a missed shot, Ray Allen buried a float back to the line off balance three pointer with his feet flirting dangerously with the out-of-bounds line. What if even one of those five actions had gone the other way? The San Antonio Spurs would have been the 2013 NBA Champions. And this only scratches the surface of the Pandora's Box that randomly bursts open in my brain like a sinister jack-in-the-box at some point on a daily basis. Left to my own devices and with time alone inside my own head, 'what if' scenarios bounce around my brain like a pinball. What if the NBA had not rejected the 7 year, $100 million contract that the Miami Heat signed Juwan Howard to in 1996? The Miami franchise would have been irreversibly crippled from having signed a mediocre player to a superstar contract, would have likely not have been in the same position to build a championship contending team around Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade a decade later, and the San Antonio Spurs would have probably been the 2013 NBA Champs. What if Ray Allen hadn't betrayed his loyalty to Kevin Garnet and Paul Pierce and hadn't left the Boston Celtics to go and sign with the enemy? He would have never hit the dagger three pointer at the end of regulation in Game 6 and the Spurs would have probably been the 2013 NBA Champs. What if LeBron James hadn't betrayed his loyalty to Cleveland in 2010 and had had the fortitude to continue to trust his own ability by believing that if he remained on the journey to fight to the top of the mountain top with his own teammates, his own franchise, his own city that he would one day persevere? Instead, he took the easy way out by becoming Dwyane Wade's more talented sidekick. In order for LeBron James to become a champion, he chose to take shortcuts. Had LeBron James had the competitive integrity of Michael Jordan, for example, the match up with the Miami Heat would have never happened and the San Antonio Spurs would have probably been the 2013 NBA Champs. There are hundreds of 'what if' scenarios that haunt me into searching for pathways through which the Spurs could have won this year's championship, but the person that this 'what if' scenario will likely wind up haunting the most in the long run is LeBron James, himself. There is a reason why 49 out of 50 states were rooting for the allegedly boring Spurs to win the 2013 NBA Finals. Taking shortcuts in life is not an endearing quality, especially in an all-time great basketball player. All-time great athletes, much like U.S. Presidents, can really only be judged accurately through the prism of history. I suspect that no matter how many championships LeBron James wins as a member of the Miami Heat, history will remember him unfavorably in comparison to the other all-time great champions that he will be measured against because of the shortcuts that he took and I suspect that after his playing days are long behind him, the decision to leave the Cleavland Cavaliers will haunt him immeasurably. Nonetheless, the image of an old LeBron James being tormented by regret as he sits in the rocking chair on his porch is of little consolation right now because in the end, we did lose to that player and that team which makes this defeat even more traumatic to deal with. With the whole country finally squarely behind the small market Spurs, a franchise that genuinely conducts its business the right way, building a team from the ground up and going through the painstaking effort to develop players year after year to remain competitive, it is heartbreaking to lose to a franchise that leveraged all of the space within the salary cap rules to it's advantage in order to shortcut its way back into contention.
Despite my personal animus with LeBron James' decision and the way that the Miami Heat put together a championship caliber ball club, give them credit. In a tightly contested Game 7, the Spurs were led by Tim Duncan's 24 points and 12 rebounds and my player of the game Kawhi Leonard's 19 points and 16 rebounds, but in the end it was not enough to match the brilliance of James and Dwyane Wade. LeBron scored 37 points and collected 12 rebounds and Wade scored 23 points and collected 10 rebounds. Most importantly, however, the duo made clutch shots in the final moments of a gut wrenching fourth quarter and on the other end of the floor, the Spurs did not. Tim Duncan, one of the most consistently unflappable all-time great players basketball has ever seen, inexplicably missed a bunny of a jump hook over Shane Battier with around a minute left and an opportunity to tie the game. On subsequent Spurs possessions, the physical breakdown of the body of San Antonio's most beloved player caught up with the Spurs once again as Manu Ginobili was unable to be Manu Ginobili and physically execute the basketball plays that his fearless and brilliant basketball mind was asking him to execute. Furthermore, my predicted ascension of Tony Parker into the conversation of best basketball player in the world hit a speed bump as Tony was unable to assert his will over the outcome of Game 7 up to the level of the lofty standards that that title would expect. Sometimes basketball is just that simple. There is no rational explanation for why, but when two teams are evenly matched, one team executes and the other doesn't. On the court, the Miami Heat earned the title by being the better team in the fourth quarter of the last game of a series where two teams played each other to a draw in the previous 27 quarters. Congratulations, Miami. And as heartbreaking as this defeat in the NBA Finals was, I'm thankful for having had the experience. The journey to and the experience of having my beloved #BlackAndSilver back in the NBA Finals was such a joy. San Antonio is a special place and I feel truly blessed to have gotten to experience this amazing run with my community. This journey, despite all of the pain which has resulted from its difficult conclusion, has given me a unique opportunity to reflect upon the relationships and memories that have made being a San Antonio Spurs fan such an integral part of my life as well as live new experiences with loved ones and create new memories. Despite the irrationality of it all, I welcome the pain of losing the 2013 NBA Finals in heartbreaking fashion because in the end, being a die-hard Spurs fan is as central to who I am and is a force in my life that contributes as much to my personal happiness as the forces that influence my residence, my career, my friendships, and my family. After all, some more than others, but where I live, the types of people that I work with, who my friends are, and how I relate to my family are all aspects of my personal happiness that have been influenced by my die-hard affinity for the San Antonio Spurs. So, I'll relish this pain right now and learn to cherish it at some point down the road, but I'm already beginning to feel some of the heartbreak begin to get squeezed out of me by anticipation of the future. I still believe that Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker will raise another banner in the AT&T Center. I couldn't have higher hopes for the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013-14 NBA season. Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and Tiago Splitter will be one year further into their development and therefore more seasoned come playoff time. Couple that with the fact that Timmy, Manu, and Tony were, are, and will always remain true champions. Each time that they have experienced a crushing playoff defeat which has arguably cost them a championship [see 2004, 2006], they never jumped ship, nor did the franchise back up a Brink truck to lure in reinforcements, instead they regrouped and came back with the same core group to win the title the next season. It's always darkest before the dawn. We've got next.
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Five Up
2013 NBA Finals, Game 6
One More Time - Potentially seconds away from the roof being blown off the building, and with the AT&T Center the loudest I have ever heard it in all of the countless visits that I have made inside the arena that Tim Duncan built, 18,000 people were simultaneously stricken with the same nightmare. What was setting up to be one of the most special places to be in America late last evening, somehow became one of the worst places to be in America. I have never experienced a more violent swing in emotions during a sporting event and I have never seen a more dazed and confused group of people clear an arena and rightfully so. Losing a tight game and squandering an opportunity to eliminate your opponent is always rough. But this was something entirely different. The post-game AT&T Center scene was so other-worldly bizarre that it quickly became dangerous. Generally, there is a heavy rush to the parking lot immediately following the final buzzer of a game, but usually some people leave early and others hold back to wait for the crowd to dissipate. Quite literally, everyone was trying to get the hell out of that building all at once. The last time I was pushed in the back that many times in a crowd was on the rope line at a 2008 Obama for America campaign rally waiting to shake then Senator Obama's hand. Spurs fans were pushing, clawing, grabbing, and yelling at each other in an effort to get through the exits so that they could breathe again. This is a natural reaction to experiencing all of the air being sucked out of a building, but it was quite a chilling experience to go through nonetheless. My wife and I tried our best to stay calm and move with the flow of the crowd down the escalators and through the lobby towards the exits, but it became increasingly difficult. Some of the more inebriated amongst the herd were cursing the refs, the Heat, and the world without any regard for their proximity to children. To make matters worse, I counted at least three or four Miami Heat fans who were senselessly baiting the crowd and gloating to anyone who would listen. It is one thing to attend an actual game and root for the road team, but to attend a watch party hosted by a franchise for its fans, root for the opponent, and then gloat to the gathered masses after we've just suffered one of the most excruciating defeats imaginable; classless. Although, I didn't actually see any of them get jumped, there were definitely some heated exchanges going on between dejected Spurs fans and these clowns. I guess in any crowd of people this size you will always find a handful of lunatics exercising the same amount of sense as a chihuahua barking at a pack of wolves. Hopefully, none of them were actually physically harmed so that they can get what's coming to them in the form of karma. After all, there is one more game to play. So enough about them, more so than the handful of Heat fans baiting the masses, it was the aggravation that Spurs fans were displaying towards each other over our inability to move through the crowd and get outside that was escalating the most tempers. A woman almost pulled me down by the shoulder screaming hysterically about how she needed to get out of here. I let her by, trying to keep my arm on my wife's shoulders in front of me, but I sternly reminded her about the news flash of the year..."everyone really needs to get out of here." Another woman, a few yards behind me in the crowd, was pushed into another fan who turned around unquestionably agitated. That fan proceeded to push the first woman and it seemed as if the incident was tinkering on the verge of setting off a riot. Luckily, there was a very large gentleman (must have been 6'4, 300 pounds at least) who was near enough to the altercation that he was able to put himself between them and diffuse the situation. Of what I witnessed, this was the closest that the building evacuation process got to devolving into utter chaos but the entire walk felt as if it could happen at any moment. While the loss itself was indescribably disappointing, the thing that was truly heart breaking was seeing our community momentarily turn on each other and regress back to an "every man for himself" mentality when we had been so close to getting to instead experience a harmonious departure from the arena, filled with dancing, hugging, and back slaps, and into the streets of San Antonio to join our friends and neighbors as we all continued to celebrate well into the night like a family.San Antonio Spurs fans had the right to be angry, confused, dejected, and sad last night after the game. Given the stakes and our proximity to victory, it was the toughest defeat I have personally ever experienced in my 28 years as a Spurs fan. The Game 7 loss to the Mavericks in 2006, the Game 5 loss to the Lakers in 2004, and the Game 6 loss to the Rockets in 1995 were all up there, but having the trophy so close within reach that we could almost scrape a finger nail on it? The cruelty of this one is utterly excruciating.
And that has spilled over into a citywide hangover through out the day today. The entire city seems to be sleepwalking in a zombie-like transient state. But it has to end tonight when we go to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day. The saving grace to the cruelty of this loss is that it comes with an immediate chance for redemption. Also, if someone had told Spurs fans at the beginning of the season that we would be getting to play one Game 7 in the 2013 NBA Finals with a chance to win our 5th championship, we would have all been thrilled about the opportunity to put another banner up in the rafters of the AT&T Center. There are 48 minutes left in our season and we should be confident that our ball club will seize this moment. The San Antonio Spurs still lead the Miami Heat 596-584 (cumulative scoring) in the Finals and we have, for more time in this series than not, proven that we are a deeper, more well rounded, and, yes, a better basketball team than our opponent. Tim Duncan, last night's player of the game, has clearly saved something in his tank for this moment. Timmy had 30 points and 17 rebound trying to get the thing done last night. I would be shocked if he does not repeat or improve on that performance tomorrow night in Game 7. By the way, San Antonio is 0-2 in this series in games that have been officiated by Joey Crawford, we are 3-1 in games that have not (including 1-0 on the road). Joey Crawford will not be officiating Game 7. On a historical note, no road team has won a Game 7 in the NBA Finals since the 1978 Washington Bullets defeated the SuperSonics in Seattle. While this seems discouraging, to me this seems to suggest that the road team is due. Also, the #BlackAndSilver have not lost back-to-back games with Tim, Tony, and Manu in the lineup since December 12th and 13th. This is a longer period of time without losing back-to-back games than the constantly referenced streak the Heat have been on since January 8th and 10th. But more than anything, the reason to remain optimistic about our chances on Thursday night is that I genuinely sense that our players and our city want this title more than those counterparts in Florida. As excruciating as it was to be in that AT&T Center after the final buzzer had sounded last night, I had never experienced so much excitement and so much hunger for a victory in any sporting venue that I have ever been in as I did during last night's game at the AT&T Center, and the game wasn't even being played on the court down below us. The crowd was going bonkers and the noise level was deafening when the Spurs took a 5 point lead in the final minute on a Tony Parker floater, it was utter pandemonium. This city and our players are so hungry for a championship and it seems more than reasonable to me that Miami and its players will not have the capacity to reach down deep enough to match that hunger tomorrow night, having won a championship last year.I spent a lot of time last night at the AT&T Center peering up at the four championship banners in the rafters. I know that the energy that was in that building last night (while greater than any I had ever experienced) will pale in comparison to the energy that will be in it tomorrow. Tomorrow night, the city of San Antonio will be so hungry for a championship that we will be loud enough for the greatest winner of a generation, Tim Duncan, to hear our screaming on South Beach and use it as fuel to make that one final push that will hopefully put championship banner number five up in the rafters of a building that will one day have his statue on its grounds. Before this series began, while congratulating the Miami Heat on winning the Eastern Conference, I suggested that this match up would be an epic clash of champions. The 2013 NBA Finals have certainly lived up to that prediction. I also proposed, "may the best team win." I am utterly convinced at this point in time that the San Antonio Spurs are the best team in this series. Although tomorrow's game will be the hardest leg of this journey, it will also be the final one. Game 7 is an amazing opportunity for the Spurs to prove that we are the best team in the series by absorbing the body blow of the toughest loss in franchise history and countering it with a resounding upper cut and delivering it with such fury that it produces aftershocks which resonate in our community and the annals of basketball history forever. Our best basketball of the season has yet to be played. It's always darkest before the dawn. Shake it out.
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Headline Image Source: Bleacher Report
Four Up
2013 NBA Finals, Game 4
Not Afraid - The San Antonio Spurs lead the Miami Heat in the 2013 NBA Finals 382-377 (cumulative scoring). Win by 36 or win by 16, San Antonio and Miami are now tied at two victories a piece and in case you haven't noticed...it is really, really, really close. On Thursday night, the San Antonio Spurs spoiled a growing hope in the city to celebrate a championship by winning this series at home. Miami defeated San Antonio 109-93 at the AT&T Center in front of 18,581 mildly overconfident Spurs fans who were unable to match the desperation of a group of Floridians who had the audacity to come into our house and wear black. The player of the game was Tim Duncan who had 20 points, 5 rebounds, and a block. Eric Spoelstra, more than from his tactical adjustments, benefited from a radical increase in effort and aggressiveness from his best four players. Spoelstra must have stolen a card out of the Mark Jackson coaching playbook and spent all day Wednesday building up his top players to believe that they are an invincible angelic force manifested by God the Father and sent down to Earth for the purpose of giving mortals a glimpse of the level of play that he gets to enjoy in Heaven when he watches Jesus, Moses, Abraham, and Noah lace 'em up and take on all comers on the parquet of the old Boston Garden which was transported upstairs after its earthly demolition in 1998. By the way, in Heaven they play with 12 foot baskets but don't you dare challenge Jesus at the rim because he will get up and cram in your face. The difference between Spoelstra and Mark Jackson as motivators, however, is that Spoelstra benefits from players who already know how to play at the highest level and don't have to be prematurely anointed by their coach to believe it. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Ray Allen combined for 99 points on Thursday night. But chances are very high that Eric Spoelstra is going to need to display more coaching acumen than being a world-class motivator to win the series. The rest of the Miami Heat combined for a paltry ten points in Game 4. A performance where three future Hall-Of-Famers and Chris Bosh play aggressive, purposeful basketball can work to win one "our backs are against the wall" NBA Finals game. It is highly unlikely that it can work to win an NBA Finals series against the San Antonio Spurs. Greg Popovich will make the necessary adjustments to get his players to take away some of the motions that put Bosh and Allen in spots where they were able to feed off of Dwyane and LeBron's energy and get into rhythm. The Heat will need to get more contributions from more places in order to win Game 5 because if San Antonio can indeed limit Bosh and Allen, 65 combined points between James and Wade (no matter how spectacular the buckets that generate them) shouldn't be enough to beat the Spurs. LeBron's performance was to be expected and if it had just been LeBron playing his best game of the Finals, the Spurs might have still been okay (even with Bosh and Allen playing well too). The man that did us in on Thursday night arrived via time machine. The throwback performance by Dwyane Wade, where he displayed some of the individual brilliance of his 2006 Finals run, could not have been anticipated. It was reasonable to expect that Wade would play better out of desperation but you need more than 8 timeouts and a halftime to prepare for this version of the Flash and if you tell me that the treatment he received on his injured knee before Game 4 is on the up and up, then I have no choice but to believe you. Nonetheless, with two days off before Sunday's Game 4, the Spurs will adjust the defensive schemes to now account for two superstars instead of one. Not that that Dwyane Wade will necessarily show up again. But if he does, the Spurs will be much better prepared for him.
The #BlackAndSilver are certainly in a dog fight now but there is no need for Spurs fans to panic. Sure both teams are evenly matched and both teams are equally capable of winning this series but the winner of tomorrow night's Game 5 will be at a huge advantage to win it all and, luckily for us, that game is being played right here in Titletown, TX. Sure, having home court advantage in the pivotal game of the series doesn't, in and of itself, guarantee anything so if you are looking for a little something extra to help alleviate your overwhelming case of Finals anxiety, you have come to the right place. Let me walk you through a statistical analysis that I put together last night for the exact purpose of putting my own mind at ease. In a relatively close sample size, the San Antonio Spurs are 18-8 all-time in the NBA Finals (.692 winning percentage). The Miami Heat are 12-9 (.571 winning percentage). Each team needs to play 2-1 ball (.667 winning percentage) or better over the next week to hoist a trophy. To date, San Antonio's organization has performed above that marker and Miami's has performed below it. Individually, LeBron James is 8-11 in the NBA Finals (.421 winning percentage) and he is trying to improve the trajectory of his legacy against Tim Duncan, who is an identical 18-8 (.692 winning percentage) as the franchise having played in every game (winning all four series) and who was 16-6 (.727 winning percentage) in the Finals before Miami was able to add two more losses in the four games so far this year. James was 6-9 going into this matchup (.400 winning percentage). A split of the first four games has inflated LeBron's Finals record and it has deflated Timmy's Finals record. Granting that both of these players are far enough into their NBA Finals career that these statistics bare some meaning on who they are, then the sheer statistical probability is that the extending out of this year's sample with two or three more games will pull each player back closer to their mean. To put these numbers in context, Michael Jordan (one of the most dominant forces the Finals have ever seen) won six Finals series against zero defeats and his career Finals mark is 24-11 (.686 winning percentage). Remember, Tim Duncan as of today is at 18-8 (.692 winning percentage) which is a slightly higher Finals winning percentage than a player who is widely regarded as the best basketball player of all-time and who finished his career without ever losing the series. Conversely, Kobe Bryant, 23-15 (.605 winning percentage), has won five championship series and lost two. Shaquille O'Neal, 17-13 (.566 winning percentage), has won four championship series and lost two. Both of these players are fine champions, but the difference between always winning a championship in the Finals and usually winning a championship in the Finals is likely having the ability to consistently win two out of every three games played (.667 winning percentage) in the NBA Finals as Jordan and Duncan have done but Kobe and Shaq have not. Furthermore, LeBron James has not yet established a capacity to win in the Finals at any where close to the clip that Kobe and Shaq established, much less Michael and Timmy. The worst case scenario for James that still yields him a championship gets his Finals record to 10-12 (.455 winning percentage) after this series.That is still an unusually large jump in winning percentage for a superstar from a third to fourth trip. Conversely, at exactly the point that Tim Duncan is at, four games into his 5th Finals, Jordan was 18-9 (.667 winning percentage). I feel better about the chances of an all-time great player who wins in these games at a slightly higher clip than Michael Jordan and who has consistently kept his Finals winning percentage above two out of three (.667 winning percentage) to be able to figure out a way to get this thing done than I would about a superstar who will not even be able to climb to even (.500 winning percentage) in the Finals no matter what happens for the duration of this series. Tim Duncan just needs to do what he has done throughout his career, stay above above 2-1 (.667 winning percentage) and win two out of the next three games to win another title. Do you feel better now? Well you should feel a little better, one thing that my vast experience watching and studying lots and lots of sports (particularly the NBA) has taught me is that some teams and athletes have a higher capacity to persevere through adversity than others. The numbers bare it out that between the Spurs and the Heat and Tim Duncan and LeBron James, the Spurs and Duncan have shown a higher capacity to overcome. That being said, hopefully all of that mild overconfidence that was on display in the AT&T Center during Game 4 has been flushed out of the collective systems of Spurs fans. We should go into tomorrow night rooting confidently for our Spurs but we should also root with what Coach Pop refers to as "appropriate fear." The players on the court will almost certainly be playing with "the appropriate fear." The Miami Heat are extremely talented and very dangerous, especially now that they have perfected time travel technology and gone back to fetch the 2006 version of Dwyane Wade to take the place of this 2013 counterpart, and they are still the defending champions. They also have the ability to draw on experience to figure out a way to put a boot on our neck by stealing another one at the AT&T Center tomorrow night. This is our last stand in San Antonio for the season and we as a community need to make it abundantly clear to the Miami Heat that it is because of their greatness that we are not going to allow them to become the first road team to win two games in South Texas in an NBA Finals series. They need to feel early and often that their best hope for winning back to back games in the 2013 NBA Finals will come in Miami. At some point tomorrow night we need to force them to come apart by making them realize that they are incapable of matching the way we come together.
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Eleven Down
2013 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 3
Whoop That Trick (Hustle & Flow) - For the second game in a row, the San Antonio Spurs went to overtime against the Memphis Grizzlies and for the second game in a row, Tim Duncan came through in the clutch. The Spurs defeated the Grizzlies 104 to 93 last night to take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals. The 93 points put up by Memphis is the most that the Spurs have allowed in the last five games (since they elevated their collective defensive play Back to Black in the middle of the Golden State series) and for the fifth game in a row the Spurs held an opponent to under 47 percent shooting allowing Memphis to only shoot a paltry 39.2 percent from the field (38-97). The Grizzlies also had a nightmare night from the line shooting 55.6 percent and missing 8 free throws and a few in critical moments in the fourth quarter that could have helped them secure the win in regulation. In Game 2, Tony Allen was able to sink a pair of clutch free throws to help Memphis force overtime. In Game 3, on two separate occasions in the final two minutes of regulation, he split a pair of free throws. With so much at stake, these are the type of critical misses that can haunt you for weeks if not years upon end. I know that the Spurs have experienced our fair share of these disappointing blown opportunities over the years.
Earlier in the evening, it was the Spurs who were experiencing a nightmare. San Antonio began the game entirely unprepared to play. We looked stuck in neutral as the clearly focused Grizzlies fed off the energy of the FedExForum home crowd to turn the Spurs over eight times in the 1st quarter and take an 18 point lead. Watching this occur felt like Déjà vu. Last year, up 2-0 against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs came out flat in Game 3 and suffered a blowout loss (102 to 82) which shifted the momentum in the series. We appeared to be willing to concede a similar Game 3 outcome last night as the Spurs' starters looked like zombies in the opening quarter and didn't even seem to be capable of managing the basics such as passing the ball from the point to the wing. Tony Parker, in particular, did not have his head in the game as he committed four of the eight 1st quarter turnovers. Halfway through the abysmal quarter, Spurs Coach Greg Popovich made a decision that most NBA coaches wouldn't even dare entertain in such an important playoff game; he benched his entire starting five. While the second unit didn't do a whole lot to get the Spurs back into the game while closing out the quarter (San Antonio still trailed by 16 after the period), the message was clearly received by the starting five. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, in particular, went on to play dominating basketball the rest of the way. Duncan finished the night with 24 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks and Parker finished with 26 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. Because of his dominant play in overtime, Timmy earned my player of the game honors for the second game in a row. The utter brilliance of the performance of the #BlackAndSilver in the overtime period was a work of art. San Antonio outscored Memphis in overtime 18 to 7 while going 8-10 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line. Duncan had seven points, a rebound, and the most spectacular assist you could ever hope to see as he through a no-look pass to Tiago Splitter with about two minutes left in OT. Standing with the ball on the high post, Timmy turned his head towards perimeter to pass the ball to the wing and then ripped a pass inside to Tiago for an easy layup. This one play epitomized the consistent excellence that Duncan has displayed throughout this playoff run and especially in the overtime periods of the last two ball games. Timmy is clearly on a mission this postseason and when he's locked in like this, at this time of year, I begin to count my blessings that he has always and continues to play for San Antonio. Tim Duncan is one of the few all-time great players who will play his entire career for one team and every Spurs fan should feel beyond fortunate that this historic career has been played for our team.
While being up 3-0 in the Western Conference Finals, really any NBA playoff series, is an amazing accomplishment, once again, the Spurs are hesitant to start celebrating a trip to the NBA Finals just yet. There is still more work to be done in Memphis, Tennessee. In the post-game press conference, Coach Pop said that "Game 4 is all that exists for us." Manu Ginobili pointed out how incredibly blessed the Spurs are to be in this position given that the last two games went into overtime. He said after the game, "We are very lucky to...be 3-0, I mean...I really didn't expect to be in this situation now." The Spurs could very realistically be facing a 2-1 hole with Memphis being the team with an opportunity to go up 3-1 by the weekend's end. Nonetheless, San Antonio is the team in this excellent position, which provides us an opportunity to close out another playoff series. Amazingly, for Tim Duncan, Monday provides an opportunity to close out the 30th playoff series of his career against only 10 defeats. And the days go by, but if we keep our play focused and building towards a crescendo tomorrow evening, the San Antonio Spurs could find themselves in position to write the script for another historic Memorial Day. Same as it ever was.
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Ten Down
2013 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 2
Even Flow (Once It Hits Your Lips) - And the Tony goes to...Tony Allen hit the floor, holding his head, writhing in pain. If you had missed the play and you had just seen the aftermath you would have thought that Manu Ginobili had grabbed Allen out of mid air, body slammed him to the ground, bent down and karate chopped him in the head, and then spit in his face for good measure. Sources tell me that after watching the latest incarnation of the business of basketball receiving official protection against the manifestation of spirited competition, a portal through which gladiators used to be willing to sacrifice a limb in order to earn the distinguished honor of a trip to the NBA Finals, Bill Laimbeer immediately changed the channel to WWE Royal Rumble in an effort to find more authentic programming. Faking an injury that did not occur to bate the refs into a flagrant foul is not in the character of champions. Only Tony Allen knows for sure how far he pushed that acting performance, but the fact that three Memphis-based personal injury lawyers have already solicited Allen for an endorsement deal since Tuesday night doesn't bode well for his credibility.
The player of the game was Tim Duncan. He saved the Spurs from the type of catastrophe that derailed the 2004, 2006, and 2008 title contending Spurs by dominating the overtime period. Had San Antonio lost Game 2 because Memphis was able to outplay us from opening tip to final buzzer, it would not have been the end of the world. We could have regrouped, looked at film, and come back with a focused performance in Game 3 like we did against Golden State under the same circumstances. However, had San Antonio lost Game 2 because of the shenanigans of Tony Allen and the apparent passion for Broadway theater that Bill Spooner, Scott Foster, and Bill Kennedy hold in common, that could have proven disastrous. The Memphis Grizzlies made it quite clear in their fourth quarter comeback Tuesday night that they are a tough minded, determined basketball team. They are good enough to win this series. Had the Spurs allowed a game to slip through our fingers that, by all intents and purposes, we had in the bag because of a couple of freak plays in the final minutes; there is no guarantee that we would have had the ability to refocus from that disappointment to win three out of the next five games. Don't get me wrong, I know we could have. But I'm extremely thankful that we don't have to put that scenario to the test. Thankfully instead, the #BlackAndSilver defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 93-89 in overtime on Tuesday which puts us in the same scenario as last year. The Spurs are up 2-0 in the Western Conference Finals with a chance for redemption. Second chances serve as spectacular opportunities. They are the purest type of opportunity; the kind that comes to those who are willing to put in the work to overcome adversity. You can't fake your way to the promised land. The Spurs face the ultimate opportunity to body slam the adversity they experienced last year and punch their ticket to the NBA Finals this holiday weekend in Memphis, Tennessee. They won't punch that ticket through their ability to sell fouls. They won't punch that ticket through their ability to make shots. They will punch that ticket by having an insurmountable desire to win. And they will punch that ticket with their hustle and flow.
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